Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Friday said that she will release all political prisoners who had been arrested on false charges, after she came to power. “As soon as this (Left Front) government is dislodged from power, we will review all cases where people had been put behind bars vindictively on false charges.
We will release all such political prisoners,” she added. Ms Banerjee was addressing a rally at Canning in South 24 Parganas. She, however, clarified that her government will not give blanket freedom to all “thieves, dacoits and criminal” like the Left Front had done after coming to power in 1977.
The Trinamul Congress chief also warned that after coming to power her government will also institute probes into all incidents of mass killings like Nandigram, Netai and Sainbari issues. “From Nandigram to Netai, we want justice for every CPI(M) misdeed,” she added. She repeated her charge that during the 34-year of Left Front rule, there had been 75,000 political murders in the state.
In a bid to woo the voters, Ms Banerjee recounted her “achievements” as railway minister. “I have introduced large number of new trains, set up new stations and even initiated 16 industrial projects in one-and-a-half-years while the Left Front has done no development work in the past 34 years,” she added. Ms Banerjee promised to build a sports stadium and a super speciality hospital in Canning after coming to power. She repeated her charge that the CPI(M) was using the BJP to divide the anti-Left vote to defeat the Trinamul Congress.
Exhorting the people to vote in large numbers, she said, “In North Bengal, 84 per cent people voted and now I want 100 per cent polling in South Bengal because I want to see the liberation of Bengal from the Left Front’s misrule,” she added.