Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee Wednesday ridiculed the opposition for launching movements against her government, saying they were aimed at seeking publicity.
Speaking at the state assembly`s platinum jubilee celebrations, Banerjee - who as a feisty opposition leader held sustained mass movements against the erstwhile Left Front government and saw it ousted from power - said merely holding placards was not a revolution.
"I have done lot of movements in my life. A revolution is a continuous process... it requires sacrifice, dedication, devotion, discipline, control. Only displaying a placard for two minutes and clicking a photo is not a movement. I had struggled for 35 years and I know what is movement," said Banerjee.
With an eye to the next general elections, the Congress has kicked off a 225-km long "Mukti Yatra" against Trinamool`s policies, while the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has called for sustained mass movements across the state decrying the ruling party`s "terror tactics".
During her address, Banerjee referred to several of her movements, including the Singur agitation during which she undertook a 26-day hunger strike, opposing forcible acquisition of land for industry, by the Left Front government.
With the Trinamool coming to power in the state in 2011 riding on mass movements, Banerjee said her party`s ascendance to the helm has triggered a "change in the democratic process in the state assembly", and added: "Change in democracy is always colourful as it is the people who bring the change."
