Mamata Banerjee dares BJP to arrest her amid TMC's protest denial

KOLKATA: Alleging that BJP was trying to break the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Mamata Banerjee on Monday dared the saffron party to “arrest her if they want”, her words coming shortly after police denied TMC permission for a sit-in at Rani Rashmoni Avenue on June 2. “Trinamool will protest on June 2 even without police permission, a mic or a stage. We will protest in Delhi if they don’t let us protest in Kolkata,” the former CM said in a Facebook video. Banerjee said if she was not allowed to hold a dharna, she “would sit wherever stopped”. “I am ready to be arrested,” she added, stressing how “10,000 TMC workers have already been arrested”. “The police are trying to break a political party. If you don’t let me protest democratically here, I will go to Delhi. We have an INDIA bloc meeting as well,” she said. Banerjee said there were elections in other states but “nowhere else were these things happening”. “You have targeted Bengal and made us lose through SIR and logical discrepancies. In 177 constituencies, polls were rigged and machines were hacked. I am a sufferer myself. I was forced out of the counting centre when I was winning by 13,000 votes," she added. Banerjee alleged that “to break TMC, they are giving money to some and threatening others with ED and CBI, arrests and detention of their children. People are unable to speak out of fear and are being forced to break the party. Many BJP netas used to stay in touch with me. I have stood beside them at all times. But today, you are spewing lies”. The police’s job is to be a protector, the former CM said, claiming that “cops were going to municipalities and telling representatives to resign”. “I am not blaming them entirely. We never did this during our tenure. Before the attack on Abhishek, all his security was withdrawn. My security was also withdrawn. They have removed security cover of all netas who face threats," she added. Banerjee added, “The Calcutta high court will reopen on June 7 and we will fight again. I have gone to court to fight a case before. We are collecting all documents and helping everyone legally. The HC had ordered all those displaced to be returned home, but police are not implementing that. Our functionaries are being beaten up with cops standing as spectators.” She, however, asserted that the departure of some functionaries from Trinamool for personal interests would help rebuild the organisation, and that TMC would emerge stronger from the crisis. “Why are people anxious? Kolkata and Bengal have been handed over to lumpens,” she alleged.