KOLKATA: BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday said that no force, not even the ruling Trinamool Congress, can stop the party from making the government in West Bengal in the 2021 Assembly elections.
Commencing a three-day tour of West Bengal with door-to-door visits followed by a public meeting at Naxalbari in Darjeeling district on Tuesday, the BJP president blamed the state government for not letting central schemes reach the rural poor. “When central schemes can work so well in Gujarat, Haryana and Maharashtra, why don’t the rural poor of Bengal get the same benefits?” he questioned.
“They (TMC) think they can stop Narendra Modi’s chariot with these obstacles. BJP will bloom in the same mud thrown at us by the TMC. No force can stop BJP from making government in West Bengal in 2021 elections. People of Bengal will give answer to bad governance,” he added.
Speaking in the backdrop of the Maoist attack in Sukma that claimed lives of 25 CRPF jawans, including three from West Bengal, he said: “A fire was lit in Naxalbari 50 years ago. The country is still burning in the flames of that fire. However, in the same Naxalbari, Modiji’s slogan sabka saath sabka vikaas will bloom.”
Shah visited around 34 households in Naxalbari after having a simple vegetarian meal at an Adivasi household. He took a train to Kolkata from New Jalpaiguri station on Tuesday evening and will stay at BJP worker Arati Jana’s house in Chetla area of Kolkata, not far from Mamata Banerjee’s residence.
Meanwhile, state chief minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee urged the people not to fall for the divisive politics of BJP. Speaking at two different rallies in Coochbehar, 158 km from Naxalbari, Mamata Banerjee urged the people to pull the chain of BJP’s mammoth rise in the state.
“BJP is trying to restrict worship of individuals. I am born Hindu but I can respect and bow down to any god. Who is BJP to tell me whom to worship and what to eat?” she said.
The Trinamool supremo made fun of BJP over reports that cows would be given Aadhaar numbers. “Next, they will give Aadhaar card to chickens, goat and even to the fishes of pond. We would need Aadhaar card to eat fish, chicken and goat. I urge BJP leaders to consult psychiatrists instead,” she said.
The West Bengal Chief Minister announced Rs 5 lakh ex-gratia and job to one family member each of the three jawans from the state ambushed and killed in Sukma district on Monday. She made the announcement while visiting the house of 27-year-old martyred CRPF jawan from Coochbehar, Krishna Das. Other martyred jawans are Binoy Chandra Barman of Coochbehar and Arup Karmakar of Karimpur, Nadia.
Mamata also reiterated her stand on Teesta water sharing issue. “There is no water in Teesta. How can I give water from there? I don’t have any problem in sharing water with Bangladesh. I love Bangladesh like my West Bengal. Sankosh is overflowing, take water from there. Take water from Torsha, Mansai and Dhansai rivers. But if I give Teesta water, my people in Siliguri and Jalpaiguri will remain thirsty and fields will become parched. I can’t let that happen,” she said.