If ‘Khela Hobe’ slogan by Trinamul Congress set the ball rolling for the 2021 Bengal assembly polls, then this time it will set the pitch for 2024 parliamentary elections to oust the BJP from Centre, declared the Bengal chief minister and Trinamul supremo Mamata Banerjee as she announced that the state will observe ‘Khela Hobe Diwas’ on 16 August.

Addressing people and political leaders across India, through giant LED screens, on the occasion of Martyr’s Day, Banerjee trained her guns at the BJP-led-central government by lashing out for alleged snooping on Indian citizens carried out by the Centre.

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The investigation into the leaked database of target lists who were victims of the Pegasus spyware revealed names of Abhishek Banerjee, TMC MP and nephew of CM Mamata Banerjee, and Prashant Kishor the poll strategist who designed election campaigns that led Trinamul to return to power in Bengal with a mammoth vote-share, and a resulting debacle for the BJP.

Banerjee criticized the Modi government for allegedly using Israeli spyware against the country’s citizens, and said, “Pegasus is dangerous and ferocious”. She showed the viewers, her phone where she has used tapes to cover the camera lenses and the speaker since this Pegasus spyware can reportedly activate a hacked phone’s camera or its speakers for recording without the user of the device having any clue that he/she is being spied upon.

She further said that this Pegasus spying has created an atmosphere of fear in the country so much so that these days it has become impossible to speak to any chief ministers or leaders of other states without fear or apprehension that the phones are being tapped. She said she is not being able to speak to leaders such as P.Chidambaram and NCP chief Sharad Pawar, among other Opposition leaders, due to fear of being snooped upon.

She urged the Opposition leaders of all states to form formidable fronts through a coalition to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party which has allegedly trampled on India’s democracy and is now busy playing sleuths when people are dying in the country amid a pandemic. She criticized that instead of sending sufficient vaccines to states, the BJP government is allegedly spying on them.

Referring to the 2021 state polls, Mamata said, “A game was played then and another will be played in the coming 2024 general elections. We must prepare ourselves from this time if we want to throw the BJP out of the central government.” She highlighted that this snooping breaches the fundamental rights of citizens of India and it is through such unethical means that the BJP wants to win elections.

Banerjee said on 16 August, the state will observe ‘Khela Hobe Diwas’ that will be symbolic of starting a full-fledged preparation for the upcoming 2024 elections, and asked her party workers to bring out frequent protest rallies, without creating inconvenience for citizens, to protest against the authoritarian rule of the BJP that led countrymen reeling under poverty, inflation, illegal surveillance and draconian diktats.