Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday mounted a sweeping attack on both the Congress and the ruling TMC, claiming that Rahul Gandhi’s party would fail to win even a single seat in West Bengal, and that Mamata Banerjee’s proximity to the Congress would hasten her political decline.
Addressing a poll rally at Dum Dum area, Shah sought to stitch together several of the BJP’s principal poll planks in Bengal — from infiltration and women’s safety to ‘syndicate raj’, dynastic politics and the Babri Masjid issue — while projecting the contest as a decisive battle to end what he called the TMC’s “politics of terror”.
“I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, you will not even cross double digits. In West Bengal, you may not even be able to open your account, and in Assam, the Congress will face its biggest defeat ever,” he said.
In a more expansive attack on the Congress leadership, Shah accused party president Mallikarjun Kharge of lowering the level of political discourse under Rahul Gandhi’s influence.
“Narendra Modi ji, who eradicated terrorism, is being called a terrorist by Kharge ji. Staying around Rahul Gandhi has started to corrupt Kharge ji’s language, too. Listen up, Rahul Gandhi… the more abuses you hurl at Modi ji, the more mud you sling with your insults, the lotus will bloom with even greater pride,” he asserted. Training his guns at Banerjee, Shah said the chief minister was making a political mistake by aligning herself with the Congress.
“Mamata didi, you are sitting with this same Congress. Your situation is also going to worsen,” he said. The BJP leader also sought to counter the TMC’s charge that the saffron party would impose an “outsider” as CM if voted to power in Bengal.
“Mamata didi is misleading people by saying that Bengal will have an outsider as chief minister. The CM will be someone from Bengal. However, it will not be Mamata’s ji’s nephew, but a BJP CM,” Shah said.
He said the BJP’s chief ministerial face in the state would be “someone born in Bengal, a Bengali speaker, educated in a Bengali medium school and a BJP leader”.
The remarks were a clear attempt by the BJP to blunt one of the TMC’s most persistent campaign lines in the final phase of the election – that the saffron party is controlled by leaders from Delhi and has no rooted Bengali face.
“It is time to remove Mamata didi, who came to power with the slogan of ‘Maa, Maati, Manush’ but has left Bengal at the mercy of goons. Her only goal now is to make her nephew the chief minister,” Shah alleged.
Seeking to tap into urban anger over extortion and the alleged stranglehold of local strongmen, particularly in and around Kolkata, Shah said the BJP had prepared a roadmap for the development of the metropolis and its adjoining areas. He coupled the promise of development with a renewed attack on the TMC over industrial decline and the alleged “syndicate raj”.
“Due to Mamata didi, industries have left Bengal, but due to the BJP, these thugs will flee the State. Remember my promise – after May 5, the syndicate members will escape from Bengal,” he said. Shah also returned to one of the BJP’s central themes in the campaign – women’s safety – invoking a string of recent cases that have drawn widespread outrage in the State.
“Mamata didi shamelessly says, why should women go out after 7 pm. I promise that after May 5… we will work to free the mothers, sisters and daughters of Bengal from fear,” the Union Minister said. With the BJP increasingly seeking to consolidate Hindu votes in several constituencies, Shah also raised the Ram temple issue and linked it to remarks made by TMC leader Humayun Kabir.
“In Ayodhya, where the Babri Masjid once stood, Modi ji built the Ram Mandir and proclaimed ‘Jai Shri Ram’. And, Mamata didi wants her disciple Humayun Kabir to build a Babri Masjid in Bengal,” Shah alleged.
He repeated the charge later in his speech, saying, “Mamata Banerjee wants to build Babri Masjid by taking the name of Humayun Kabir. Don’t worry, I am saying this clearly: Mamata Didi, try as hard as you want, the BJP will not allow Babri Masjid to be built in Bengal.” Shah also accused Banerjee and the Congress of opposing the women’s reservation bill.
“Should women get 33 per cent reservation in the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies or not? Mamata didi, in alliance with Congress, opposed women’s reservation and has blocked mothers and sisters from coming to the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies,” he said.
Seeking to make infiltration a central poll issue, he urged voters to support the BJP not merely to elect MLAs or form Government, but to transform the State. “… All of you have to cast your votes, but not for any MLA or to form a BJP Government, but to create an infiltrator-free Bengal. On May 4, the counting will happen, and people of Bengal will bid tata and bye-bye to didi,” Shah added.
