Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Apr 14: The union home minster Amit Shah has hinted that if the Narendra Modi government was re-installed at the centre after the 2024 Parliamentary elections with a good number of seats from West Bengal, the Mamata Banerjee government in the state will be toppled.
“Give us some 35 seats out of 42 from West Bengal and the Trinamool Congress government led by Mamata Banerjee will not survive beyond 2025,” Shah said while addressing a rally at Suri in Birbhum district on Friday.
The TMC immediately called Shah’s threat as “undemocratic and unconstitutional.” “GO BACK TO DELHI and DO YOUR JOB. Clearly, no one in Bengal is interested in your trash-talk, your lies, your hate-laden agenda. Go spew venom elsewhere!” the party tweeted from its official handle.
While lashing out at the Mamata Banerjee government for running a “Hitler-like regime,” Amit Shah said if the BJP returned to power in 2024 by winning more than 35 seats in the state, “no one would dare to attack Ram Navami rallies in the state.”
“Let me say it clearly that Narendra Modi will be the country’s Prime Minister again. In 2024 Lok Sabha polls, give us more than 35 seats from West Bengal, and I can assure you that the Mamata Banerjee government won’t survive beyond 2025,” t Shah said. The Mamata Banerjee government is scheduled to complete its third term in 2026.
“Mamata Banerjee might dream of making her nephew the next Chief Minister, but the next Chief Minister of West Bengal will be from the BJP. Only the BJP can fight and defeat the corrupt TMC,” he said. Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee is TMC’s national general secretary and an MP. The BJP had won 18 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in the 2019 elections.
Launching a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress government, the BJP leader raised the issue of corruption in the recruitment scam as well as violence during Ram Navami processions in the State. While allegations of inciting violence during Ram Navami were made at a section of BJP leaders by the TMC, the Home Minister blamed the “appeasement politics” of the State’s ruling party for communal flare-ups at Rishra in Hooghly and Shibpur in Howrah.
Shah’s two-day visit to the State comes after 11 months and just ahead of panchayat elections in the State. The BJP leader urged people to vote for the BJP to put an end to “violence, infiltration, cow smuggling and corruption” in West Bengal. Citing the instance of the neighbouring State of Assam where the BJP is in power, the Home Minister claimed that infiltration and cow smuggling have stopped in the State. “Give the BJP 35 seats in 2024 and the government of Mamata Ji will collapse before 2025,” he said. The Trinamool Congress had defeated the BJP in the 2021 Assembly polls winning 213 of 294 Assembly seats.
Shah in his speech not only targeted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee but also her nephew Abhishek Banerjee. In his 20-minute speech he used the phrase “Didi aur Bhatija (aunt and her nephew)” a number of times and alleged that Ms. Banerjee’s only intention was to appoint her nephew as the Chief Minister. “The Chief Minister might dream that her nephew will be the Chief Minister. Today I want to assure the people that the next Chief Minister of the State will be from the BJP,” he said.
The Home Minister made references to the recruitment scam and the crores of cash seized from houses of associates of Trinamool leaders. “However much Mamata ji and her nephew tries, the fight against corruption will continue,” he added. The public meeting at Birbhum by the BJP top leadership is being held at a time when Trinamool Congress Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal is behind the bars in Delhi for his alleged role in the cross-border cattle smuggling scam. “Those who are arrested by the Government of India in cattle smuggling are still the district president of the party (Trinamool),” the Home Minister said, pointing at Anubrata Mondal.
The Home Minister also touched upon the ongoing investigation in the seizure of a huge cache of explosives including 80,000 detonators and 27,000 kgs of ammonium nitrate from Birbhum and said had it not been for the National Investigation Agency (NIA) the explosives would never have been recovered. While the NIA is investigating the case and has recently arrested two accused in the case, the seizure of explosives was, however, made by the Special Task Force of Kolkata Police in June, 2022.
The Trinamool Congress reacted by calling Mr. Shah a “seasonal bird.” “A seasonal bird is here in Bengal but no one wants to see it!” the party tweeted from its official handle. The TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said the Home Minister was talking about nepotism with “Adhikari Pvt Ltd” on stage. Mr. Ghosh was targetting Suvendu Adhikari, whose father Sisir Adhikari and brother Dibyendu Adhikari are both MPs representing the Trinamool Congress. In an attempt to counter the Home Minister, the Trinamool Congress will hold a public meeting at the same venue in Birbhum on Sunday.
“To stop Didi and Bhatija’s (Abhishek Banerjee) crime, the BJP is the only way forward. To put an end to violence, cow smuggling and infiltration in West Bengal, the BJP is the only way forward. I appeal to you to give us at least 35 seats in West Bengal in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. If you give us 35 seats, then the TMC government will fall by 2025,” said Shah.
Shah also criticised the TMC government over the violence during Ram Navami processions. “I want to ask, shouldn’t Ram Navami processions be taken out in West Bengal? Because of the TMC’s appeasement politics, some have got the courage to attack such processions. Once the BJP is elected to power, no one will be able to attack Ram Navami processions,” he said.
Attacking the government over the arrests of TMC leaders in scams and a cow smuggling case, Shah said Banerjee’s “Hitler raj” would come to an end soon.
“Didi does not work for the poor people of the state. Her only aim is to make her bhatija the next chief minister of Bengal. Here, benefits of her social welfare schemes do not reach the poor. Crores of rupees are being found from the house of its leaders,” Shah said.
“The ED had to bring in two trucks to seize crores of rupees. You tell me if crores of rupees are found from their homes, shouldn’t they be put in jail? Have some shame, TMC. It is poor people’s money. The fight against corruption will not stop,” he added.
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