Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday accused chief minister Mamata Banerjee of being the 'speed-breaker' in the path of development in Bengal.
Addressing a rally at the Brigade Parade Ground, Modi said that the BJP-led central government has developed the entire country but couldn’t do much for Bengal as the TMC chief didn’t allow the implementation of the centre's schemes.
“Mamata didi always acts as a speed-breaker in terms of development in Bengal. She neither uplifts the poor in the state nor does she allow the central government to work here. She played politics with the poor,” Modi said.
Kicking off his campaign for the upcoming general election in West Bengal with rallies in Siliguri and Kolkata, Modi accused the Congress and the TMC of being sympathetic towards Pakistan, for ‘breaking the morale’ of India's security forces and making them ‘helpless’ in the fight against terror.
“Both TMC and the Congress have always raised questions about our surgical strikes and air strikes, and have always shown sympathy towards Pakistan. Both these parties are soft on terror and terrorists because of their appeasement politics,” stated The PM.
Modi said that in 2014 people had voted to have a ‘strong government’ and in 2019 people will vote for the ‘making of a new India’.
“This time everyone will vote to make a modern India. Each vote will be cast in respect to all the martyred soldiers. This time it is the fight between the ‘chowkidaar’(watchman) and the ‘dakadaar’(thieves),” announced the PM to the large crowd that had gathered at the brigade ground.
The PM also cautioned people against voting for the TMC whom he accuses of having 'inherited the bomb and gun culture' from the Left.
In a scathing attack to the Congress, Modi said that the manifesto presented by the Congress displayed their utter lack of faith in security forces and the laws of the land.
“This chowkidar stands as a wall between the sham manifesto of the Congress and national security. This manifesto has come with an expiry date of May 23 (the day poll results will be announced). On May 23, both the Congress and its manifesto will be gone,” Modi added.
Modi also slammed the Congress and the TMC of ‘maintaining family rule’.
“In 55 years a family ruled India, which muffled the talent of young people and spread the poison of casteism in society. It is being repeated in West Bengal where the aunt (Mamata Banerjee) and nephew (TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee) are looting people,” alleged Modi in both the rallies.
Seeking to strike a chord with the electorate of north Bengal where illegal immigration is a sensitive and divisive issue, Modi said his government will act against infiltrators with the same toughness it had exhibited while tackling terrorists and naxalites.
“The refugees, who have suffered because of the faulty policies of the Congress, will get justice. This chowkidar will ensure it. None of our Gorkhas will be made to suffer,” asserted the Prime Minister in Siliguri.
Modi’s sharp attack on TMC chief came as he kickstarted BJP's election campaign in West Bengal which sends 42 members to Lok Sabha, third largest after Uttar Pradesh's 80 and Maharashtra's 48.
Interestingly, the vote share of Trinamool party has been more or less consistent. BJP seems to be gaining at the expense of the Left and Congress. Political experts have also predicted that the BJP’s vote share in Bengal is likely to improve from 17 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and 10.2 per cent in the 2016 Assembly elections to over 31 per cent in the upcoming general elections.
In 2004, when CPI(M)-led Left front played a pivotal role in forming the UPA-I government by winning 35 Lok Sabha seats from the state, the front had won 62 seats. In 2014, the CPI(M) could only manage two seats in Bengal while Left Front secured 11 seats.
Statistics clearly indicate howBJP has gained significantly in the former Maoist strongholds like Jhargram and Purulia. This was mostly at the Left’s expense, but it also captured a part of the TMC’s vote share as well, particularly in the tribal areas. In fact, during the panchayat elections, the Trinamool found it difficult to campaign in the tribal areas.
On January 19 this year, ruling Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had hosted a mega rally for a grand alliance of opposition parties ahead of the upcoming general elections 2019. More than 20 national leaders, including three present chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal, Chandrababu Naidu and HD Kumaraswamy; and former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah, Akhilesh Yadav and Gegong Apang had attended the rally.
The event called the ‘United India Rally’ aimed at uniting various political parties against the Narendra Modi-led BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Accusing the TMC's ‘United India’ as the rally of thieves, the Prime Minister said that “the only slogan they gave was ‘Modi hatao, desh Bachhao’(remove Modi to save the country). If standing by the poor and helping them to uplift their status is being debauched then I don’t mind taking the blame of being morally wicked.”
Political observers are of the opinion that if these people who have turned out for the rally vote for the BJP then it could spiral into a “big loss for the ruling Trinamool Congress”.
“If the enthusiasm that was on display in both Siliguri and Kolkata get converted into the ballot papers then the TMC is certain to lose. Even if the Left and Congress get two-three seats each, the BJP will have the majority in Bengal.”
