BJP unable to accept people's mandate: Mamata Banerjee in Bengal assembly

Banerjee made the comment while addressing the legislative assembly after TMC MLA Biman Banerjee was elected as the Speaker in the house.

Training her guns at the BJP over the post-poll violence, Banerjee said, "They (BJP) are not able to accept the mandate. I appeal to them to accept the mandate and not create violence."

"99 per cent of the videos of violence (trending on social media) are fake," she added.

At least 14 people from BJP, TMC and Left have been killed so far in post-poll violence that has kept the state on an edge.

In a stern message to the saffron party, which boycotted the election of the Speaker on Saturday, the Chief Minister said, "Downfall is imminent for those (BJP) who are not able to accept the mandate. Their downfall has already started."

In the recently concluded state assembly elections, Banerjee's TMC won a whooping 213 of 294 seats (two seats are due to be polled) while the BJP, which had claimed to win over 200 seats, lagged behind with just 77.

To slam the BJP, Banerjee invoked Joseph Goebbels's theory and also the words of Abraham Lincoln saying, "They (BJP) were following Goebbles's theory by saying they were winning 200 seats. But there is also a quote by Abraham Lincoln, who said 'you cannot fool all the people all the time'."

"They were speaking about double-engine government but TMC hit a double century."

Besides accusing the BJP of leading India to a Covid-19 crisis by holding election rallies in West Bengal only to capture the state, the TMC supremo, in her fiery speech, said the saffron party's "communal agenda" will be deftly handled by police in the state.

"We won't allow communalism in the state. The BJP has only one agenda and that is communalism. We won't allow it here," the Chief Minister said in strong words.

"No one who is spreading communalism will be spared. Whoever it is, will face the action," she added.

This is the first time since India's Independence, the state assembly is devoid of any member from the Left and Congress, which have drawn a blank though their ally Indian Secular Front (ISF) have managed to win one seat from South 24 Parganas.

On this, Banerjee said, "This is the first time in decades, Left and Congress are not in assembly. Also the opposition party, which got the help of the Election Commission, boycotted the election of the Speaker. If the Election Commission had not helped, the BJP would not have got 30 seats."

Days ago, the TMC chief had said she would have loved the Left and Congress to win a portion of the seats won by the BJP instead of drawing a blank.