Former West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief issued a stern warning to the Ritabrata Banerjee camp at the July 21 event saying that their masks will come off since the truth cannot be hidden forever.
Speaking at the dais of the Martyr’s Day event, Banerjee said, “I want to tell those who have spent years in the Trinamool Congress and later changed their stand that, one day, every mask will come off. The truth cannot remain hidden forever.”
Banerjee said that people will be able to note the difference between those who strongly stood with the party and those who alienated their peers coming under pressure.
Claiming that a majority of its ranks deserted them after the May 4 poll debacle coming under the pressure of central agencies, the TMC chief said, “Many have left because of fear, fear of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), or the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).”
Banerjee even claimed, “I have never seen the CID so active in my political life.”
The TMC chief even asserted that as many as 40,000 cases have been registered against her party workers, exclaiming that it is “unprecedented”.
Thanking her workers for standing tall against such atrocities, Banerjee said, “Despite facing such an enormous number of cases, our workers never bowed their heads. Many went to jail, endured imprisonment, and returned with the same determination to continue the struggle.”
Contrasting their loyalty with those who left her camp, Banerjee said that such sacrifices on their part deserve respect as opposed to those who chose to chicken out.
“Those who chose to leave because of pressure from the ED, CBI, or CID have made their own decisions,” she said, stressing out that she bears “no bitterness” towards them.
Issuing a war cry on the party’s most significant political event after the electoral defeat, Banerjee said, “Our movement must continue with people who remain committed despite adversity.”
“Politics is done through conviction and public trust, not by fear or personal convenience,” she emphasised.