Uproot TMC, Mamata from state, says Amit Shah in West Bengal

New Delhi: Invading the Trinamul bastion, BJP chief Amit Shah on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and exhorted people to “uproot” her outfit and “throw it away”.

As Mayo Road in Kolkata turned saffron with thousands waving BJP flags Mr Shah thundered: “I ask all of you to uproot this Trinamul Congress government and throw it away.”   

Stoking the sentiments of the Bengalis, the BJP president accused TMC of creating “hurdles during the immersion of Durga idols”. “Once the BJP comes to power in the state, Durga Puja, Saraswati Puja will be celebrated without any hurdles and much fanfare.”

Taking the battle over illegal immigrants to her home home turf, the BJP chief made it clear that the NRC issue will be the main poll plank for his party in West Bengal. “I would like to ask Mamata ji why she is protecting Bangladeshi infiltrators. They are raising their voice against NRC because these Bangladeshi infiltrators are their votebank in Bengal. But we will not let this happen. We will go ahead with the NRC plan and push back each and every infiltrator,” he declared amidst thunderous applause. Hitting out at the Congress president Rahul Gandhi, the BJP president wanted him to come clear on his stand over the issue of illegal immigrants.

While NRC is clearly going to be BJP’s mail poll plank, Mr Shah also targeted the Trinamul Congress over corruption and unleashing a reign of terror in the state. He pointed out that since the TMC took over the state, there have been a series of corruption cases ranging from the Narada scandal, Saradha and Rose valley ponzi scams. He also spoke of the “unhindered activities of cattle mafias and coal mafia”. The BJP leader told the mammoth gathering that only way to “free” Bengal from corruption and deteriorating law and order was to “bring the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party in to power in Bengal”.

Going back to the NRC issue, Mr Shah said that for the “sake of votebank politics”, Mr Gandhi was “not making his stand clear on illegal migration from Bangladesh”. And for the same reason, according to Mr Shah, the West Bengal chief minister was “encouraging infiltration from Bangladesh”. He reiterated” “Rahul Gandhi and Mamata didi should clarify whether national security is important for them or the votebank. For the BJP, the country comes first.” Mr Shah hit out at the Congress by saying that the Assam accord was signed by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. “Then the Congress did not seemed to have any  problem with the National Register of Citizens (NRC),” he said.

He also attacked the TMC for unleashing a false propaganda campaign over the NRC issue. He assured, “I assure all the refugees that nothing will happen to them.” He then pointed out that this was the reason why the Centre had brought the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.” The bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha in 2016, seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to provide citizenship to the illegal Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi and Christian migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

As the TMC had put up posters screaming “anti-Bengal BJP leave Bengal”, the BJP chief asked, “How can BJP be anti Bengal when the outfit was founded by none other than Shyama Prasad Mukherjee?” He declared that BJP was neither anti-Bengal or anti Bengali, but it was “anti misrule”.

Accusing the TMC of corruption, the BJP chief asked, “Where did the huge funds provided to the state by the 14th Finance Commission go?” While claiming that television news channels were being prevented by the TMC from airing the rally, he announced: “Until the BJP assumes power in Bengal, our vijay rath (victory chariot) will not stop.”