Mamata to continue movement against fuel price, rail fare hike

Assailing the Narendra Modi government for hiking fuel prices and railway fares, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Monday said her party Trinamool Congress would carry on with its movement to combat such policies.

"They said something before the elections and have done things diametrically opposite after the polls. Within a month of coming to power, they have hiked prices of fuel and railway fares," Banerjee said.

"We will continue our democratic movements and fight against these things," the Trinamool supremo said at a party rally here.

Accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to "foment riots" in West Bengal, she warned that there was no place for divisive politics in her state.

"They are trying to indulge in communal politics in the state. We will not let this happen. There is no room for communalism on the soil of Bengal," she said.

Wondering how the BJP could indulge in a massive campaign built on "lies" in the state by winning only one additional seat in the recent Lok Sabha polls, she prophesied that the BJP will be reduced to zero in the next general election.

"The BJP had one seat. They have gained one more seat. But the way they are campaigning and behaving, it seems as if they have achieved a lot. They now have two seats. It will never become three and will come down to zero in the next general election," Banerjee said at the massive rally held to commemorate the death of 13 youths in police firing on this day in 1993.

Originally observed as "Martyrs' Day", the Trinamool has now christened it as the "Maa Maati Manush Divas".

Ridiculing Banerjee's claim, BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said in Delhi that the Trinamool supremo's comments showed she was "worried".

"She is worried as the BJP tally will go up to 22 in the next Lok Sabha polls," Lekhi said.

State BJP president Rahul Sinha said Banerjee should be more "worried" about what was going to befall her party in the assembly polls two years from now.