'There will be game again, be united': Mamata's plea to minority community

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday exhorted the minority community of the state to stay united, saying any kind of division will help BJP emerge stronger.

"A lot of negative propaganda is going on. Do not believe in that. If you get divided then ultimately BJP will benefit out of that division. So today is the day to take the oath of remaining united," the Chief Minister said in a mobile message that was played at a meeting of the minority cell of the Trinamool Congress here this afternoon.

Speaking on occasion, the Chief Minister also referred to the narrative 'Khela Hobe (There will be game)', which was coined by her party's youth leadership and became extremely popular before the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.

"You remain united and there will be a game again," she said.

Squarely blaming the Congress again for BJP's landslide victory in the recently-concluded Assembly polls for Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the Chief Minister said that the saffron camp took electoral benefit because of the division of opposition votes in these three states.

"That was not BJP's victory in the true sense. BJP can be defeated if the Opposition remains united. Bengal wants the defeat of BJP. Bengal is not eyeing any chair. It will only fight for the sake of common people. BJP always wants to divide people. We have to foil that remaining united," the Chief Minister said.

Speaking on the occasion, she also accused BJP of misleading people in the name of religion. "We have respect for all religious places. But we are against doing politics in the name of those religious places," the Chief Minister said.