Mamata launches massive party outreach programme, alleges tacit Left-BJP understanding

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC Supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday lashed out at both her opponents in the state – BJP and the CPI(M) led Left Front - claiming the ideological opposites, 'Ram-Baam' (BJP-Left), had allied covertly. Launching her party's new outreach programme titled 'Didir Suraksha Kavach (Didi's Protective Shield)', Banerjee said, "Even if one weed attacks our paddy, the whole crop could be ruined", while cautioning her workers to root out corruption ahead of Panchayat polls to be held in the next few months.

Around 3.5 lakh Trinamool Congress workers will reach out to the around 10 crore people of the state to check if they are benefitted from government projects, she said. Banerjee said a proper vigilance system at the party level will be put in place to "weed out rotten elements". Her party functionaries have been facing a series of corruption charges and two prominent leaders have been arrested in the year gone by. "A proper vigilance system will be put in place to keep a check at the panchayat level. There will be a check and cross-check mechanism to look into all complaints," she said. She also asked the party's cadres to reach out to the people to counter "canards" spread against the TMC by opposition parties.

In an apparent reference to an alleged tacit understanding between the opposition BJP and the Left in the state, she said, "Now, Ram and Bam (BJP and Left) have become one." A similar charge had been levelled by the TMC after the 2019 Lok Sabha election, when the party alleged that many Left supporters had secretly voted for BJP in a move which it claimed had the blessings of the Left leadership. "We are followers of an inclusive ideology. We need to take along everyone. The BJP's ideology differentiates between people on religious lines. "You have to listen to people with humility," Banerjee told TMC workers at the party programme held at 'Nazrul Mancha', named after the famous revolutionary poet of the pre-independence era Kazi Nazrul Islam.

With an eye on West Bengal panchayat polls due this year, the ruling Trinamool Congress also launched a new campaign 'Didir Suraksha Kavach' to reach out to people. The programme will see her workers fan out to villages to find out whether the government's programmes were benefitting common people. "Around 3.5 lakh party workers will reach out to around 10 crore people of the state. It is being done so that no one is left out. The 'Duare Sarkar' campaign of the state government will continue," she said. The campaign was launched by the chief minister in the presence of TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and state president Subrata Bakshi.

"The party will start the campaign on January 11 and will continue with it for 60 days. Our party workers will reach out to people across the state and ensure that everyone can avail of welfare schemes of the state government," Abhishek Banerjee said while addressing a press conference. Just like 'Duare Sarkar' (government at doorstep), an outreach programme of the state government, the objective of the new campaign will be to connect with people through the party's programme, the CM said. Banerjee, while speaking on TMC's vision as it completed 25 years on January 1, said the party aims at a "united India with a strengthened federal structure".