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Mamata coins 'Save Democracy, Save Nation' slogan for anti-BJP front before leaving Delhi

Banerjee arrived in New Delhi on Monday for a five-day visit
Last Updated 31 July 2021, 02:33 IST

All should work together to save democracy, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said, as she concluded her five-day visit to New Delhi, reiterating her call for the opposition parties to unite and take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Banerjee coined the slogan “Save Democracy, Save Nation” for the united opposition before returning to Kolkata on Friday. “I am thinking I should come (to New Delhi) once every two months, after managing my work (in Kolkata),” she said, signalling her intent to continue her pursuit for a greater role for herself and her party in national politics.

“Democracy must go on,” said the Trinamool Congress supremo, adding: “If democracy comes under threat, the nation also comes under threat”. She said that the Trinamool Congress and the other opposition parties would continue to stand by the farmers protesting against the new agricultural laws.

Banerjee arrived in New Delhi on Monday for a five-day visit – her first after leading her party to a landslide victory in the Assembly elections in West Bengal in March-April this year.

The visit was apparently aimed at building on her success in stalling the BJP’s juggernaut in West Bengal and positioning her for a lead role in efforts to unite the opposition parties against the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She had a “chai-pe-charcha” with the Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. She also had separate meetings with Anand Sharma and Kamal Nath of the Congress, Kanimozhi of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party.

She, however, had no meeting with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, who has been playing a key role in coordinating among the opposition parties. He recently had a meeting with political strategist Prashant Kishor, who advised the Trinamool Congress for the Assembly polls in West Bengal. He and his daughter Supriya Sule, a member of the Lok Sabha, was at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on July 21 last to listen to the Trinamool Congress supremo’s speech during a virtual event held nationwide to mark her party’s annual Martyrs’ Day.

But Pawar recently also had a meeting with Modi and speculation was rife about the NCP chief’s plan to project himself as a potential candidate to be the next President, after incumbent Ram Nath Kovind’s term in the Rashtrapati Bhavan ends in July 2022.

As no meeting with Pawar was on the schedule of Banerjee during her visit to New Delhi, it raised some eyebrows in political circles. The Trinamool Congress supremo, however, sought to set at rest all rumours before leaving for Kolkata on Friday. “I talked (over phone) to Sharad Ji also. He went to Mumbai. So, next time we will meet also,” she told journalists.

Mamata also met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded more anti-Covid-19 vaccines for her state. She also met Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari.

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(Published 30 July 2021, 15:39 IST)

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