Mamata Banerjee accuses BJP, Narendra Modi of making false promises at RJD-organised rally in Patna

Patna: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday targeted the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making “false promises” and their total failure to fulfil any of them for people. “They only made false promises and did not anything else,” Banerjee said in her speech delivered in Hindi at the large gathering at a rally in Patna organised by Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad. “We have seen three and half years that passed so far in the name of ‘achche din’ (good days). But reality on the ground is different… farmers are dying, unemployed youths are growing at fast rate like never before, common people are fed up with price rise,” she said. [caption id=“attachment_3970723” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Mamata Banerjee. PTI[/caption] Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, said the country is ruled by a party that has changed the definition of democracy. “Now for the BJP, it is a government of the agencies, by the agencies and for the agencies. It is simple - the BJP and Modi have been using these agencies against Opposition parties to any one who raise voices against them.” But Banerjee asserted that she is not afraid of the central government because she believes in fight and struggle from the road to the Assembly and the parliament. Accusing the central government of “trying to scare her with the help of the CBI”, she said: “BJP leaders have been behaving across the country in such a fashion to demonstrate that only they are right and others, including the Opposition, are wrong. This is something to be challenged and countered because it is a dangerous trend in the country.” She also referred to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s inability to control the situation in party-ruled Haryana after the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a rape case. Noting that the Opposition is voice of the people, she said that if the youth protest or agitate against increasing joblessness, Opposition parties have to support them. Banerjee said that the BJP would be ousted from the power in 2019 general elections if Opposition is united on one platform. Several leaders of Opposition parties including former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad also addressed the rally. Leaders of the Nationalist Congress Party, the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the Communist Party of India, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha, the All India United Democratic Front, the DMK and others also attended the rally. Lalu Prasad’s younger son and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, his wife and former chief minister Rabri Devi and their daughter Misa Bharti were also present at the rally attended by thousands of people despite floods affecting major parts of Seemanchal, Koshi and Mithilanchal regions of north Bihar.