KOLKATA: Replying to charges of corruption levelled at her and her family, CM Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said: “I have never seen such dirty politics. I do not like this politics of defamation, lies, use of unprintable words, not giving minimum respect to people.” She added the “politics of blackmail too had started”. “A section of the media is used as a weapon to defame without evidence. Everyone is now being called a thief,” she said.
“We used to have a joint family. But now we stay separately. Trinamool is my family. Do not try to defame my Trinamool family,” the CM said, distancing herself from her siblings and explaining how she lived away from them. “Only Abhishek’s mom sends me cooked food as I don’t have time to cook for myself. But they, too, stay separately. I actually spend more time in adda with my brothers’ wives than with my brothers,” she added. “I get to meet my entire family only during festive occasions like bhai-phonta, Kali Puja or rakhi.”
Banerjee spoke on how the media was being forced to toe BJP’s line after a TV channel reporter sought her response to agencies’ searches on the channel’s office for 80 hours. “Even our chartered accountants and those who file our income-tax returns are being searched and raided.”
The CM referred to memes on her poems and paintings by “CPM, Congress and BJP supporters”: “Why don’t you write as well? Who is stopping you? But what objection can anyone have if I have some spare time and my creativity prompts me to do something?” she asked.
