Amid a searing heatwave in West Bengal, the BJP on Tuesday raised the political temperature in the state with its two big names – Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath – taking on Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress Government.
Addressing a public meeting at Memari in the East Bardhaman district, Shah alleged that Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee did not attend the Ram Mandir consecration ceremony in Ayodhya because they were afraid of losing the support of“infiltrators” in West Bengal. “The TMC promised a government of Maa, Matiand Manush. But after coming to power, it has become a government of Mullah, Madrasa and Mafia,” he said, adding that the perpetrators of violence against women in Sandeshkhali would be brought to justice.
Shah said it is a matter of shame that “Mamata Banerjee, despite being a woman Chief Minister, tried to protect the culprits”. “For years, atrocities continued under her rule. To get some votes through appeasement, you are protecting the criminals of Sandeshkhali. The BJP will punish these culprits,” he asserted. He accused the Chief Minister of maintaining a stoic silence to carry on “vote bank politics”.
“This election is about deciding whether you want the nephew as Chief Minister of West Bengal or Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India, he said. “Do you want parivar raj (dynasty politics) in the country or Ram Rajya? Do you want to elect bhatija as the Chief Minister of Bengal? In this election, you have to elect Modi ji as the Prime Minister again so that free medical treatment worth Rs 5 lakh under Ayushman Bharat Yojana can be made available to the people,” said Shah.
Shah also slammed the Mamata Banerjee government for opposing probes by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the state.
“Mamata didi says CBI and ED conducts raids in Bengal. But why were crores of cash recovered from the houses of your Ministers? Rs 51 crore was recovered from the house of one Minister. Shouldn’t they be put behind bars? Mamata didi, you can scream and shout as much as you want, but those who have looted the money of the poor will be sent to jail,” said Shah.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, in his three election rallies in Asansol, Birbhum and Baharampur during the day, attacked the Mamata Banerjee government.
First, he campaigned in support of Nirmal Kumar Saha, the BJP candidate for Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency. After that, he held a rally in Siuri in support of Birbhum’s BJP candidate Debtanu Bhattacharya. Yogi Adityanath attacked the ruling party of Bengal for the disturbances during Ramnavami.
Yogi Adityanath said: “If such incidents had happened in Uttar Pradesh, the accused would have been hanged upside down and their property would have been confiscated. Arrangements were made so that the accused would forget about rioting.
Baharampur, from where the CM kicked off his West Bengal campaign, is witnessing a high-voltage election between Congress and the Trinamool Congress. Five-time MP and Pradesh Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is fighting against the Trinamool’s surprise pick, cricketer Yusuf Pathan, and the BJP’s Nirmal Chandra Saha, who is a local doctor.
Reacting to Yogi Adityanath’s comments, AdhirChowdhury, the Congress candidate from Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency, said: “The BJP and the Trinamool want to polarize the votes through communal differences with religious incitement. I will not allow anyone to destroy the atmosphere of harmony in Murshidabad.”