Kolkata, Jan 28 Just hours before West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee's crucial public rally at Singur in Hooghly district on Wednesday, the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari released a purported audio clip involving a local woman leader of the Trinamool Congress and a member of a Self-Help Group.
In the audio clip, the leader was allegedly heard threatening a member of the women's Self-Help Group in the area with freezing of benefits under different welfare schemes, unless they turn up at the said public rally.
IANS, however, was not in a position to verify the authenticity of the audio clip.
“There will be no excuse for absence at the meeting. If anyone remains absent, I will give her name and number to the Block Development Officer. Now, if in the future you ask me why certain work has not been done or if you are denied something, you will have to seek that explanation from the Block Development Officer,” the Trinamool Congress leader was allegedly heard saying in the audio clip.
The LoP claimed that this proves that crowds are not gathering at the Chief Minister’s meeting spontaneously, but because of pressure.
“People are no longer coming voluntarily to attend the Chief Minister's meeting and listen to her bombastic speeches. There is a severe shortage of spontaneous listeners, and so strict instructions have been given to the Self-Help Groups to follow orders and show up at the meeting," he said.
"Otherwise, the list of opportunities and facilities that they will be deprived of is long,” Adhikari claimed.
However, on the ground, the excitement over Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s rally at Singur later in the day stems from two reasons. The Chief Minister will be leaving for New Delhi immediately after her Singur rally, reportedly to garner consensus among Opposition parties against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in some states and Union Territories, including West Bengal
Second, her rally at Singur is very near to the place where Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public rally on January 18, adding more significance to the choice of location.
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