West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee seems to have been caught off guard on several fronts. The way her government harassed the CBI officials had already backfired for her. And now denying permission to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to land in West Bengal also seems to have backfired for her in a grave manner. Mamata Banerjee’s administration had denied landing permission not only to Yogi Adityanath but also a number of other BJP leaders including Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Shahnawaz Hussain. This exposed how Mamata Banerjee is acting like a dictator as far as the state of West Bengal is concerned.
In what must have taken the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee by surprise, Yogi Adityanath took the road route to reach Purulia in West Bengal in order to address a rally there. The Uttar Pradesh chief minister first travelled to Jharkhand’s Bokaro and travelled to Purulia in West Bengal by road. He took the Mamata-led West Bengal government to the cleaners during his rally. He said, “you must have seen how she is trying to save a corrupt officer. Nothing can be more shameful, undemocratic and unconstitutional than a chief minister of a state sitting on a dharna (sit-in protest) to ensure that secrets of corruption don’t spill out.”
Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath called the TMC government “corrupt and undemocratic” and also criticised Mamata Banerjee for not allowing the benefits of the central government schemes to be passed on to the people of the state. He also indicted the Bengal government of indulging in unconstitutional activities. He stated, “this (West Bengal) government is embroiled in undemocratic and unconstitutional activities and that is the reason why a ‘sanyasi’ and ‘yogi’ like me is not being allowed to step on the soil of Bengal.”
Before heading for the rally in Purulia, Yogi also exposed how West Bengal was suffering under Mamata Banerjee’s rule. He tweeted, “it saddens me that Gurudev Tagore’s Karmabhoomi, our Bengal today is suffering from anarchy and the misrule of the Mamata Banerjee government, now is the time that West Bengal should be freed from this government to protect the Constitution through a strong democratic movement.” Taking a dig at Mamata Banerjee over the present political showdown in the state, Yogi said, “nothing can be more shameful for a democracy than a Chief Minister sitting on a dharna.”
It is clear that Mamata Banerjee would have regretted denying landing permission to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath among other BJP leaders after the manner in which Adityanath drove his way into West Bengal via Jharkhand and absolutely destroyed the TMC government in his speech. Her decision of not allowing the BJP to land in the state clearly exposed two things, her dictatorial attitude and the fact that she is fearful of the BJP’s unprecedented rise in the state of West Bengal. Yogi’s onslaught turned out to be too hot to handle for the TMC.
Though the West Bengal chief minister celebrated the Supreme Court order directing the Kolkata Police Commissioner to make himself available before the CBI and “faithfully” cooperate with the agency in the investigation of cases arising out of the Saradha chit fund scam probe as a moral victory for the TMC government, she was not really able to sustain for long and backed down soon. She called off her “indefinite” dharna and this showdown thus went totally in favour of the BJP.