Creative personalities from different professions raised their voices against what they called the “distasteful” attitude of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government as they urged people to “vote for Mamata Banerjee who is putting up a fierce resistance against the Modi-Shah tyranny”.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, singer Kabir Suman, a former Trinamool MP, said: “I am not a Trinamool intellectual but a ‘Marxbadi’. But, I do not want the Modi-Shah government to remain in power at the Centre. Mamata Banerjee is putting up a fierce resistance against Modi government and I urge voters to support her. This BJP government does not respect human values and only sow seeds of communalism. The BJP is today attempting to use Vivekananda in Bengal for political mileage and shouting out his name but refuses to conform to his ideals. Hence I want to ask why did they choose Vivekanadana as an icon, and not Ramkrishnadeb? Is it only because of the saffron factor? The BJP has also slaughtered journalists.”

He pointed out: “I had the good fortune to witness the revolution in Nicaragua at an early age and I must say I can see a spirit of revolution in Mamata Banerjee’s campaign against Modi. At present, only the TMC can topple BJP and hence we must support Miss Banerjee in this fight.”

Poet Joy Goswami pointed out: “We feel embarrassed that today such a time has come when we need to hold conferences discussing how our basic values of life are in jeopardy. The BJP government has been rampaging, riding on the back of a communalist political strategy and has been sowing seeds of division among the people. In Assam, they are driving people out of the state in the name of NRC while journalists such as Gauri Lankesh, were murdered to silence the voices of criticism. We have to stop the BJP with all might. The BJP today is demeaning Bengal. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is the only one who has been fighting tooth and nail to remove this Modi-Shah government. The votes polled in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls will clearly express the will of Indian voters who are frustrated with BJP’s cheap politics.”

Taking a jibe at Amit Shah’s statement that “Bangal is Kangal” (Bengal is in a state of destitution) painter Subhaprasanna Bhattacharjee questioned: “Why is there so many Central forces in Bengal and not in any other states? The aggressive and distasteful attitude of the Modi government is not tolerable. They do not understand Bengal and its people and hence we need to stop them. BJP is insulting Bengal.”

Thespian Shaoli Mitra said: “Though the elections are a political fight, we have gathered here to protest against the crimes that are being perpetrated by the Modi Shah government.”

Poet Subodh Sarkar pointed out how Time magazine in their cover story on Narendra Modi had captioned it “Divider-in-Chief”. He further questioned: “Which government forces its citizens to say Jai Shree Ram? Modi and Amit Shah are like dengue and malaria of the country and only Mamata Banerjee can save us from these diseases.”

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