Zeenews Bureau
Kolkata: Making fresh allegations against her Left opponents, firebrand West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said that the CPM is hatching a conspiracy to eliminate her with the help of Pakistan’s notorious spy agency ISI and the Communist comrades in North Korea, Venezuela and Hungary.
In an interview to a US daily, Trinamool Congress chief said, “The CPM is plotting with the Maoists to kill her, in league with the ISI and financed by North Korea, Venezuela and Hungary.”
Launching a vitriolic attack on the Left Front she told the Washington Post, “They have given me the death sentence, and every day they are spreading this superimposed photo on Facebook, on Internet or the e-mail through some false, camouflaged name."
After the interview, Washington Post`s leading columnist Simon Denyer has published an article describing Mamata as the biggest obstacle to liberalization in India.
"She spent her life fighting Communists but is the biggest obstacle to economic liberalization in India today. She is the leader of a small regional party but wields more power than the prime minister," Denyer wrote in the article that was published on Monday.
The West Bengal leader was recently praised by none other than US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who met Mamata in her native state.
During an interaction with media later, Hillary referred to the "common bond" she shares with women who have broken through barriers of discrimination and braved the fire of electoral politics.
The Washington Post article further branded Mamata as the only woman politician who has risen to political power in South Asia "without being the widow, orphaned daughter or former girlfriend of an established leader".
Taking a deeper look at Mamata’s persona and her pro-poor policies, the article praised her eagerness to topple a political establishment.
In his article, Denyer said, “The 57-year-old West Bengal leader, who is determined, resolutely populist and hardworking, yet eccentric and intolerant of dissent, holds the balance of power in India`s coalition government and has used that political might to huge effect. Time after time, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh`s efforts to introduce economic reforms have foundered because of Banerjee`s opposition."
Denver also talks about the Left rule during which militant trade unions became so powerful that they virtually ran factories in a state where 91 million people live.
However Denver concludes by writing that despite her victory and popularity, Mamata Banerjee’s populist decisions and growing intolerance of dissent have alienated many middle-class Bengalis who had welcomed her victory a year ago."
