Rajnath Singh potshot at Mamata Banerjee: ‘No one is safe in Bengal’

Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday launched a scathing attack on the Mamata Banerjee government, blaming it for West Bengal’s deteriorating law and order, where he claimed no one felt safe. Taking potshots at Trinamul’s trademark “3M” slogan, he said: “Today no one is safe in West Bengal. Maa is not safe; maati is not safe; and manush is not safe... Even the policewaale do not feel safe here.”

While the coming Assembly elections have not officially been called yet, Mr Singh’s strident attack at a party rally at North 24-Parganas’ Ashok Nagar virtually signalled that he had launched the BJP’s campaign. Voicing serious concern over the growing “lawlessness” in Bengal, Mr Singh said no industrialist would come to invest here unless the state government delivered “good governance”. He made no reference, however, to the Saradha chit fund scam.

“Hosting business summits will not succeed in attracting investment unle-ss law and order is established. No one will invest a rupee in Bengal unless the government is committed to development. (It) must guarantee that it will deliver good governance. Only then will investors from outside come to Bengal,” he claimed. Mr Singh’s remarks, however, contradict finance minister Arun Jaitley who lauded Ms Banerjee at the Bengal Global Business Summit for creating an “industry-friendly environment”.

He also accused the state government of not taking action against those responsible for the recent Malda violence.