West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has urged all opposition parties in the country to unite and fight against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Speaking at a government programme in Murshidabad district, Banerjee accused the BJP-led Union government of using central agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to harass opposition leaders. She, however, expressed confidence that these agencies would not help the saffron party get votes.
Banerjee also highlighted the issue of river erosion in the state, particularly in the districts of Murshidabad, Malda, Dgha, Sunderbans, and Gangasagar Island. She alleged that despite repeated requests to the Union government, the state administration had not received any help in arresting Ganga erosion. Banerjee claimed that the state did not receive its share of Rs 700 crore for the development of the local people from India’s water-sharing treaty with Bangladesh, which was signed in 1996.
The chief minister announced that the state irrigation department would spend Rs 100 crore to address the erosion issue, and some of this amount would be used to help those displaced by river erosion. Banerjee also revealed that her government had already spent Rs 1,000 crore to combat river erosion, including the planting of 16 crore mangroves in the Sunderbans and Digha regions.
Banerjee had previously raised the issue of river erosion during the National Ganga Council meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kolkata last year. She had also directed Chief Secretary H K Dwivedi to appeal to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank for funds on humanitarian grounds to address the issue.
Banerjee’s call for opposition parties to unite against the BJP comes at a time when the party has been making inroads in West Bengal. In the recently concluded assembly elections, the BJP won 77 seats, up from just three in the previous assembly, while Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress secured a narrow victory with 213 seats. Banerjee’s appeal for unity is likely to resonate with other opposition parties, who have been critical of the BJP’s alleged high-handedness and authoritarianism.