KOLKATA, Dec 19: As the union home minister Amit Shah forewarned the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee of more desertions from her ruling Trinamool Congress in the next couple of months, her one-time lieutenant and minister in her cabinet for the last four and half years, Suvendu Adhikari joined the BJP along with a battery of TMC leaders and workers on Saturday.
Adhikari, who had resigned from all posts of the TMC and the cabinet during the last fortnight, joined the BJP in the presence of Shah at a rally in Medinipur. Adhikari had left Trinamool Congress alleging that the party had become corrupt and there is ‘extremely deep rot’ within the party.
BJP Bengal chief Dilip Ghosh, leader Mukul Roy and senior leader Kailash Vijayvargiya were also present in the ceremony with Shah who is on a two-day pre-election visit of West Bengal set to go to the polls in the next few months.
Addressing the rally, Shah while claiming that the BJP would get at least 200 seats in the state Assembly told Mamata, “by the time the elections come, you will be left alone in the TMC in Wes Bengal,” giving a clear indication that more desertions from the party ranks were on the cards.
In a bid to appeal to the sentiment of the West Bengal voters, Shah earlier paid homage to Indian revolutionary Khudiram Bose and met his family members. Khudiram Bose, a revolutionary who was hanged by the British government when he was in his teens, is as much a pride of India as he is of Bengal, and those indulging in ‘narrow’ politics of regionalism should get over it, Shah said.
He also visited the birthplace of Swami Vivekananda in north Kolkata, saying his ideals are more relevant in the present-day world. “This is the place where Vivekananda ji was born. He connected modernity and spirituality. I pray that we are able to walk on the path he showed us,” Shah said in Kolkata.
On Sunday, a roadshow has been scheduled to take place at Bolpur in Birbhum district where Rabindranath Tagore has established his Vishwa Bharati University, “Shantiniketan,” in 1921. The home minister is due to visit the University. However, some placards by the BJP putting Shah’s picture above the photograph of Tagore created some furor among the local population.
““You gave three decades to Congress, 27 years to Communists and 10 years to Mamata Didi. Give five years to Bharatiya Janata Party, we will make Bengal ‘Sonar Bangla’,” Shah told the rally.
Shah said, “Mamata Banerjee keeps on saying that BJP forces other politicians to switch sides and join BJP. I want to ask the chief minister if she remembers she was also a member of the Congress party before she formed Trinamool Congress. Today several leaders from Congress, CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress have joined BJP because they believe in the developmental work of the BJP and the leadership of prime minister Narendra Modi.”
Claiming that the 10-years rule of the TMC had only pushed the state further down the drain, Shah said, “You promised development in Bengal. There has been no development in the state and the amount of money the prime minister sent for developmental schemes has been used to fill the pockets of anti-social elements,” Shah further added.
Adhikari, considered to be the “strongman” of Medinipur, also addressed the rally slamming the “economic condition” of the state. “If the state has to be salvaged, its reins need to be handed over to Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said. “If the same government which rules in Centre does not rule West Bengal then it will hurt the state’s chances of development and economic prosperity,” he said.
Criticising Bannerjee, the TMC rebel leader claimed that who dared to oppose the hierarchy in Trinamool faced the wrath of the chief minister. He said people like Mukul Roy, Dilip Ghosh and Arjun Singh had been subjected to arrests under false cases because they dared to raise their voice against Bannerjee.
Adhikari also said Mamata Bannerjee would not be able to defeat BJP using police as her tool and expressed the confidence that in the upcoming elections BJP would replace the Trinamool Congress to form a government in West Bengal.
(Manas Dasgupta)