Ancestral politics greatest enemy of democracy: Abhishek Banerjee

Kolkata: At a time when the opposition parties in West Bengal, especially the BJP, are regularly ridiculing Trinamool Congress as a party of “aunt and nephew", the party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday strongly condemned the attempts to establish ancestry in politics and described the tendency as the biggest enemy of democracy.

“If the BJP introduces any new law to prevent the establishment of ancestry in politics and introduces a Bill on the floor of the Parliament on this, I will be the first person to support it. I believe that ancestral politics is the greatest enemy of a democratic system,” said Abhishek Banerjee, who is the nephew of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Speaking to mediapersons here, Banerjee also ridiculed West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose for the latter’s constant criticism of the State Election Commission (SEC) over the continuing violence the state is witnessing in the run-up to the July 8 panchayat elections.

“Our Governor is extremely competent and intelligent. But West Bengal does not need such an intelligent Governor and hence I would request the Union government to depute him as the constitutional head of Manipur or Madhya Pradesh. A man of such intellect and wisdom is needed more in the double-engine government of Manipur, and not in Bengal,” he said.

Commenting on the successive summons issued by the ED to actress-turned-politician and Trinamool's youth wing President Saayoni Ghosh for questioning in connection with the alleged multi-crore recruitment scam in state-run schools, Banerjee said that it not just her, but the central agencies are displaying similar vindictive attitude towards many others following instructions from the Centre.

“Even I was summoned separately by the CBI and the ED during my mass outreach programme. My wife and children were not allowed to board a flight abroad. I have said a lot about the neutrality of the central agencies. I will call them neutral the day they summon BJP leaders,” he said.