Mamata Banerjee denies she is PM candidate, says her aim is to see BJP out of power

The West Bengal CM has said that her main aim is to see BJP ousted from power in 2019 polls.

NEW DELHI: Amid intense speculations that she would be the main face of the Opposition in 2019 polls, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday sought to dismiss talk of her being a Prime Ministerial candidate.

The Trinamool Congress chief, instead, said that her priority was to ensure that the ruling BJP is ousted from power at the Centre for which the Opposition should unite.

"I am nobody. I am a very simple worker. Let me just continue as a commoner. I want that this government must go, this BJP government. They are doing maximum political vendetta and atrocities with the people. So we want that everybody should be united. Let us work together, don't think of Prime Ministerial candidate. Think of the country," she said in Parliament House. 

Banerjee, who has upped the ante on the issue of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam, said that 40 lakh people whose names were missing from the list were the family members of this country. 

"They belong to various states. They are our family members. They should not tell people to go out," she said.

Asked about BJP chief Amit Shah`s statement that he would be going to West Bengal to address a rally on August 11, she said, "Let him go. Let him go all the 365 days. Bengal is for everybody. Bengal welcomes everybody. It is their party problem."

In reply to a question on Shah`s comment about infiltrators and her remarks about a bloodbath, the Trinamool Congress chief said, ''What I am saying is that what the BJP is doing will create bloodbath. They are playing with fire." 

Asked about her meetings with various political parties, including BJP veteran LK Advani, she said,'' I have been a Member of Parliament for seven times. I have maintained best of relations with all. And it is a kind of courtesy meeting."

Meanwhile, a police complaint has been filed against West Bengal Chief Minister for making the alleged provocative remarks regarding the Assam National Register of Citizens issue.

According to PTI, the case against the Trinamool Congress chief has been filed with police in Assam's North Lakhimpur by the Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha  activists in connection with her alleged provocative remarks on the NRC.

The TMC leader had on Tuesday warned that the exclusion of 40 lakh people from the NRC in Assam would lead to a “civil war”.

Speaking at a Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India conclave on ‘Love Your Neighbour’, Banerjee said, “You cannot just drive away people who have been staying here for 100, 200, 30 years… I am shocked to see how Indians became foreigners… shocked to see that even relatives of former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed have not made it to the NRC.”

The BJP Yuva Morcha activists then approached the Naharkatia police station in Upper Assam’s Dibrugarh district and filed a complaint against Banerjee in this regard.

Later, BJP president Amit Shah too asked the Trinamool Congress chief to clarify her remarks and accused her of indulging in vote bank politics.

However, sharpening her attack on the ruling BJP at the Centre, the West Bengal leader on Wednesday accused the saffron party of playing vote-bank politics, while also warning that the issue will "destroy" India's relationship with Bangladesh.

She said only one percent of the 40 lakh residents, whose names are missing from the draft NRC, could be infiltrators, but people are being "harassed" in the name of infiltrators.

Banerjee said that she has appealed to all opposition parties to send their delegation to Assam. 

The TMC chief said that she has also urged former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha to visit the state.

She claimed that India has very good relations with Bangladesh, but the NRC issue threatens to spoil that.

"The NRC will destroy the relationship between India and Bangladesh. Out of 40 lakh people whose names are not in the list of NRC, only one per cent could be illegal infiltrators. But the BJP is trying to show that all those not included (in NRC) are infiltrators," she told reporters at the Parliament.

Mamata had on Tuesday alleged that the NRC exercise in Assam was done with a "political motive" to divide people and warned that it would lead to a bloodbath and a civil war in the country.

"Bangladesh is not a terrorist country. After Independence, many people from Pakistan came to Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab. From Bangladesh too, people came to Tripura, West Bengal, Bihar and many other states. They are not infiltrators or terrorists. Is it a crime that Bangladesh and we (West Bengal) share the same mother tongue? They (the Centre) think anybody who speaks Bangla is a Bangladeshi" she said. 

Her comments come in the backdrop of Assam government publishing the draft NRC on July 30.

The draft excludes 40 lakh people from the list.

(With Agency inputs)