Shillong: Invoking the national stature of icons from Bengal, Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee tackled the issue of being "outsiders" or a "Bengali party" during her visit to Meghalaya ahead of elections due in February.
“There is a news or rumours that the Trinamool Congress is a Bengali party. If the All India Trinamool Congress is a Bengali party, then why do you say the song by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay is a national song? He is also from Bengal. But the song is the national song for the entire country,” Ms Banerjee said a part convention in Shillong, referencing "Vande Mataram".
She further invoked Rabindranath Tagore. "[He] visited Meghalaya so many times. It was his favourite place. The national anthem has been written by Rabindranath Tagore and now it is sung all over India. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's slogan is 'Jai Hind'. Can you say he is only Bengali? Mother Teresa won her Nobel Prize from Kolkata. Can you say that she is a Bengali? Why do we divide along caste, along religion? Let us work together,” she further argued.
The narrative that the Trinamool Congress is a "Bengali party" is one of the main challenges that the party faces in its expansion plans. The northeastern states figure prominently in these plans. Ms Banerjee said her party's name is "not West Bengal Trinamool Congress; it's All India Trinamool Congress".
She said the word "Trinamool" means "the grassroots", and told the party cadres: "Without block leaders you cannot survive. Without volunteers you cannot survive. Without grassroot workers you cannot survive."
Taking on the BJP which is likely to fight on its own in the Meghalaya elections in spite of being a part of the ruling alliance with Conrad Sangma's NPP in the state, Ms Banerjee said, “The BJP is jealous of the Trinamool Congress... They have tried everything — misusing power — but, in spite of that, we have got two-third majority (in West Bengal elections last year). They cannot defeat us.”
She also took dig at the Assam Chief Minister, BJP's Himanta Biswa Sarma, "controlling" Meghalaya's government. Mr Sarma handles the northeast region for the BJP and has considerable influence in Meghalaya politics as well.
“Why are they ruling from Guwahati (Assam capital) or Delhi? What about the sons of the soil? Our motto is to wipe out all these things,” she said.
She referred particularly to the recent firing incident in Mukroh where five Meghalaya citizens were killed in firing by Assam Police along the state border, Ms Banerjee said: “Did the Chief Minister meet all the people individually? Were they offered jobs? In my state, if something happens, we give money and government employment.”
She stressed that her party, if it forms the government, does not intend to control Meghalaya from Kolkata.
She projected her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool MP and general secretary, as the man in-charge of the party's promises in Meghalaya. "We as your sisters; Abhishek as your brother, can help you and advise you,” she said.
She even paid him an unusual compliment: “Abhishek Banerjee is very sweet and cute, and he is taking care of Meghalaya. Whenever he asks me to come, I will come here."
Abhishek Banerjee is in-charge of the Trinamool's expansion plans. And this is not the first time the Trinamool Congress has ventured outside West Bengal; but its recent effort in Goa was not successful.
Ms Banerjee spoke of Goa, blaming the lack of success on a lack of local leadership. “Abhishek is now working for Meghalaya. In Goa, our problem was that there was no leadership. But in Meghalaya our advantage is that we have so many leaders." She listed names of Charles Pyngrope, the party's state chief; and former chef minister Mukul Sangma.
She made a direct appeal to women.
“I know women dominate in the northeast; in all the states (of the region). But how many elected women representatives do you have? Before Lok Sabha elections, everybody said we want 33 per cent reservation for women. But it is only in the Trinamool Congress that our elected members are 35 per cent women. It's not a joke. We show the way.”
Meghalaya has matrilineal societies, where women are supposed to be in control of property and inheritance. Among these societies, the mother's surname is taken by children in contrast to much of the rest of India, where lineage and inheritance have male predominance.
To further encourage party workers, Mamata Banerjee also had words of praise for her party's national spokesperson, Saket Gokhale, who was recently arrested by the Gujarat Police for a tweet over the alleged cost of PM Narendra Modi's visit to Morbi.
“I want to introduce Saket Gokhale," she said, telling him, "Please come here to the dais."
She told the party workers: "You know how he is being harassed... He is a heart patient, and he has undergone a cardiac operation. After that when he got bail, he was arrested again. I told him today, 'you are lucky'. He is very important as he is a king in India for Right to Information.”
She said the BJP could not tolerate criticism. "If one is a leader, one has to tolerate. Tolerance is a way to conquer the heart of the people,” Ms Banerjee said with Mr Gokhale standing next to her.