Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that the people of Bengal, who had given an overwhelming mandate to Mamata Banerjee in 2011, were so angry today that they were determined to throw out those who have destroyed Bengal. “Didi! The people of Bengal have now recognised your true face. They had given you an overwhelming mandate expecting you to bring pariborton. But now they are so incensed after seeing a pariborton in you that they are determined to throw out those who destroyed Bengal,” he said while addressing an election rally in Howrah North from where actor-turned-politician Roopa Ganguly is contesting the Assembly election.
Referring to the incident of mayhem during polling in Murshidabad, Mr Modi said that in other states pollings ended on peaceful note. “But here, after all three phases of the polling, there were reports about violence and booth capturing,” he said, adding that these incidents proved that Ms Banerjee had accepted defeat.
This was PM Modi’s fourth visit to poll-bound Bengal. On every visit, he has launched scathing attacks against Ms Banerjee and the ruling Trinamul Congress. He has been persistently using the issues of Saradha scam, Narada sting video and Vivekananda Road flyover crash as weapon against Ms Banerjee.
Mr Modi said the flyover crash was a proof that Mamata government was neck deep in corruption. “The faces which were involved in the Saradha chit fund scam are also visible in the Narada video and they are the ones which were also behind the flyover mishap,” he said.
Expressing anguish, Mr Modi said that in the past, Ms Banerjee had sacrificed power in protest against corruption. “Didi! How come such a pariborton has taken place that (you remain silent) even when they are caught on camera stuffing wads of cash in their pockets ” he asked. He said that it was the poor people who lost their lives’s saving in the Saradha chit fund scam. “The poor had not just invested their hard-earned money in Saradha schemes but had invested their dreams. Their dreams for their daughters’ weddings, for their sons’ higher education and construction of their homes were shattered by those who looted their money. They have no right to talk about the poor. Those arrested (read Sudipta Sen and his colleagues ) gave statements revealing at whose residences the meetings were held. These people have no right to remain in public life even for a moment,” he added.
