Everyone must work together to save democracy: Mamata
Darpan News Desk, 30 Jul, 2021 11:14 AM
New Delhi, July 30 (IANS) At the end of her visit to the national capital, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday that everyone must work together to save democracy in the country, besides stating that she would be visiting Delhi every two months.
Before leaving for Kolkata, Banerjee said, "The visit was successful. I believe that democracy must go on and everyone has to work together to save it. When democracy is in danger, the country is in danger. 'Save democracy to save the country' is our slogan," she said.
Banerjee also talked about working for the farmers, labourers, unemployed youth and others.
After a thumping victory for her party Trinamool Congress in the West Bengal Assembly polls held in March-April, Banerjee reached Delhi on Monday evening.
During her first visit to the national capital after being sworn-in as West Bengal CM for the third time, Banerjee met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union minister Nitin Gadkari and opposition leaders such as interim Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, among others.
Though an expected meeting with NCP chief Sharad Pawar did not take place, Banerjee said that "I have talked to Sharad Pawar."
After her meeting with the Prime Minister on Tuesday, Banerjee had said, "It was a courtesy meeting. I told the Prime Minister about the need for more vaccines and medicines in West Bengal."
On Thursday, she met Union Transport Minister Gadkari and discussed several road and infrastructure projects related to West Bengal.
On the political front, she met Sonia Gandhi, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal on Wednesday. She also met Congress leaders Kamal Nath, Anand Sharma and DMK leader Kanimozhi.
Ever since her third straight election triumph in West Bengal, Banerjee has been strongly pitching for opposition unity against the BJP ahead of the general elections scheduled in 2024.
"Everyone has to come together to defeat the BJP. Alone, we (Trinamool) are nothing, and everyone has to work together," she had said.
On the opposition face against Modi in 2024, she had said, "All the opposition parties will sit together and decide who will lead the fight against Modi."
India's capital allowed businesses and shops to reopen with limited hours and the Delhi Metro, which serves New Delhi and adjoining areas, also resumed operations at 50% capacity.
After Upendra Kushwaha and Sanjay Singh, Umesh Thakur, the Siwan district president of the JD-U, jumped into the fray and said that Pandey has a long criminal history. He had also molested a young girl in a train.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Friday condemned the Congress government in Punjab for allegedly discriminating against teachers and forcing them to come to the streets, and asked state Education Minister Vijay Inder Singla not to behave in an 'arrogant' and 'dictatorial' manner and resolve the grievances of government school teachers immediately.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Badal on Thursday demanded a high court monitored probe into the manner in which the Congress government in Punjab was playing with the people's lives by creating an artificial shortage of vaccines by selling vaccine doses at a hefty profit to private hospitals.
The electronic conversation took place as US President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that India will receive Covid vaccines directly from the US stockpile, the White House said.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), General M.M. Naravane, reached Kashmir on Wednesday on a two-day visit to review the prevailing security situation in the Union Territory (UT), the army said in a statement.
