Union Home Minister Amit Shah struck a bullish tone at a press meet in Kolkata on Friday, 6 November, attacking Mamata Banerjee’s TMC government over various issues and saying the Bharatiya Janata Party would form the government in the state with over 200 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections.
“In 2010, West Bengal gave reigns of the state to Mamata Banerjee. But 10 years down the line, their promises have been proved to be hollow and hopes of people have turned into despair,” Shah said, according to news agency ANI.
Shah was speaking at the end of his two-day visit to West Bengal, to put in place the BJP’s election structure and strategy for the state elections in 2021.
A key line of attack by him on the current administration was his claim that the TMC government is corrupt and nepotistic, and seeks to appease minorities.
ANI reported him as saying:
“Trinamool didn’t shy away from corruption even during COVID-19 and flood relief work... They have made three sets of laws in the state – one for the nephew (of Mamata Banerjee), one for their vote bank, and one for the common Bengali.”
In contrast, he said that the BJP’s aim would be to “build a strong Bengal in a new era of development,” PTI reported, and urged the people of the state to give the party a chance in the name of development.
Shah also took aim at the Mamata Banerjee government on law and order and political violence. “I want to ask Mamata Banerjee why the state crime data was not sent to National Crime Record Bureau after 2018,” he said, according to PTI, before adding that “Bengal tops the chart in political killings.”
Shah claimed that 100 BJP workers had been killed in the state over the last year, and asked the chief minister to come out with a white paper on these killings.
Finally, he touched on one of the most sensitive issues in West Bengal politics, illegal immigration. “The borders in West Bengal are not secure, infiltration is going on in the state,” the BJP leader said, before adding that the party was committed to implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 (the CAA), PTI reported.
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)