‘Can’t have BJP rule India': Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata rally over I-PAC raid

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that after winning the Bengal assembly election scheduled for later this year, the opposition needs to “win Delhi”.

Speaking at a protest rally over the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids on I-PAC chief Pratik Jain's home and the political consultancy's Salt Lake office in Kolkata, Banerjee said that “can't have BJP rule India”.

The chief minister also trained her guns on the Election Commission, alleging that the BJP had "stolen" the mandate in Maharashtra with the poll panel's help and was now attempting to replicate it in Bengal through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) by deleting genuine voters' names.

“If you speak in Bengali, they declare you Bangladeshi. They say that there are Rohingyas present in Bengal, but where are the Rohingyas? If there are no Rohingyas in Assam, why has SIR not been started there? This is all being done because they are trying to come to power in Bengal as they did in Maharashtra and Haryana. But it is not possible,” the TMC supremo said, targeting the BJP.

Mamata Banerjee defended her storming into Pratik Jain's home while the ED raid was ongoing, saying she has "every right to protect” herself and also alleged theft of confidential data.

“Whatever I did yesterday, I did as the All India Trinamool Congress chairperson. I did nothing wrong. I have every right to protect myself. Why did they come like thieves? They were stealing our party’s confidential data from the I-PAC office, which we had authorised,” she said.

Banerjee also threatened to “reveal” confidential information regarding the BJP if she is targeted.

“You are fortunate that I am still in office; that is why I have not revealed the pen drives (containing confidential information related to the BJP). If you try to target me, I will make that information public... I know many things, but I choose not to say them in the interest of the country,” she said.