India not truly independent under BJP rule: Mamata

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday evening asserted that India is not truly independent under the BJP-led dispensation at the Centre, even after gaining freedom from British rule nearly eight decades ago.

Banerjee, who attended programmes at Behala and Hazra here on the eve of Independence Day, claimed in a social media post that the saffron party was taking away voting rights, freedom of speech and other fundamental rights of the people.

"Despite India having achieved Independence 78 years back, the people are not truly independent under the rule of the fascist BJP," she said.

"We will continue our fight for communal harmony and national integration with the dream of achieving true independence," Banerjee said in the post.

The chief minister also reiterated her earlier allegations against the BJP – people of her state were being deprived wages under the 100-day job guarantee scheme, Bengali-speaking migrant workers were facing harassment in other states, and that the party was misusing the Election Commission for political gains.

"The BJP-ruled central government is trying to misuse the Election Commission to introduce NRC in Bengal in the name of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls," Banerjee asserted.

She also claimed some of the Bengali-speaking migrant workers were being pushed to Bangladesh on the pretext that they were citizens of the neighbouring country, and illegal immigrants in India.

Earlier in the evening, addressing a rally, Banerjee had said she will fight "till her last breath" against any attempt to snatch people's freedom of speech, movement, and fundamental rights, accusing the BJP of pushing a divisive agenda across the country.