Mamata Banerjee sets stormy tone ahead of Monsoon Session, calls presidential polls ' vote against justice'

As the monsoon session of Parliament began on Monday, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee set a stormy tone and refused to “bow” before the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre.

“We will play an aggressive role in the Parliament. We are ready to go to jail but will not bow our heads,” Banerjee said as per PTI.

She called demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) the biggest scams in the country, according to ANI. 

Demonetisation and GST biggest scams. We will not bow down our head, we will be happy to go to jail: Mamata Banerjee, WB CM pic.twitter.com/RVS0ACv0bz

— ANI (@ANI) July 17, 2017

Banerjee also urged non-NDA political parties to unite against the BJP and stand with the people. “All opposition parties must unite together. This is the best time,” she said. Speaking on the presidential elections, she said, “We voted for Meira Kumar to register our protest against present atrocities in the country,” reported PTI. She called the election a “vote against justice”.

It's vote against injustice. For sake of country we urge everyone to not support BJP & stand beside ppl: WB CM on #PresidentialElection pic.twitter.com/g1cwAhcUtQ

— ANI (@ANI) July 17, 2017

BJP and TMC have been at loggerheads over the Nepali-speaking Gorkhas’ protests for a separate Gorkhaland, with Mamata accusing the BJP of fuelling unrest in West Bengal to destabilise her government. Mamata also  boycotted the all-party meeting held ahead of the crucial Monsoon Session on Sunday.

“The TMC has decided to boycott the all-party meeting,” party leader and Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien said last week about the customary meeting that the parliamentary affairs minister calls on the eve of a Parliament session.

However, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee was sent to attend another meeting called by the Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Sunday.

Mamata Banerjee also spoke about the ongoing border row with China in the Sikkim sector, criticising the government for leaving the “borders open.” The stand-off between India and China in the Doka La plateau at the tri-junction of India, China and Bhutan borders, is now a month old issue, with no end to it yet in sight.

Why are the borders kept open? What is SSB, IB, RAW doing here? People belonging to the Jamaat are being allowed inside: CM Mamata Banerjee pic.twitter.com/zJ2g1xYNtK

— ANI (@ANI) July 17, 2017

Banerjee has also blamed BJP-led Centre for orchestrating the violence in Darjeeling. “We will not give in to the Centre’s conspiracy.I ask people who are playing with fire in the hills to give up and help in restoring peace there because violence is pollution and peace is the solution,” she had said earlier  in June.

The Mamata Banerjee-led party, along with the Congress and the Left parties, had earlier boycotted the GST rollout organised by the government in Parliament on 30 June for rollout of the GST.

With inputs from agencies