NEW DELHI: With just days to go before the election process for the Lok Sabha ends, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed confidence that the BJP will emerge as the biggest gainer in West Bengal.
He said the Lok Sabha election in the state "is one-sided" and Trinamool Congress leaders are "frustrated."
In an exclusive interview with ANI, PM Modi spoke about his party's performance in West Bengal in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and said the party will get maximum success in the state.
"In Bengal elections, TMC party is fighting for existence. You must have seen it in the last assembly elections, we had three seats. The people of Bengal took us from three to 80. We got a lot of support in the Lok Sabha in the last elections. This time, the best-performing state in India is going to be West Bengal. BJP is getting most success in West Bengal."
In 2019, BJP made strong inroads into TMC stronghold in West Bengal by winning 18 seats and being a close second to the ruling party in the state, which won 22 seats.
The prime minister also claimed that these elections in West Bengal are one-sided, with the public supporting the BJP, which is creating panic in the Trinamool Congress government.
"There are constant murders and attacks. The BJP workers are being locked in jails before the elections. Despite all these atrocities, the public is coming out in large numbers to vote," PM Modi added.
PM Modi also attacked the Trinamool Congress on the Calcutta High Court's decision to cancel all OBC certificates issued in West Bengal after 2010. He also slammed Congress, accusing it of giving religion-based reservations, which are not allowed in the Constitution.
PM Modi referred to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's earlier remarks of not accepting the High Court verdict on OBC certificates and said "they are abusing the judiciary."
"They have a modus operandi. First, they started the sin of giving it to minorities by making a law in Andhra Pradesh, they lost in the Supreme Court and the High Court rejected it because the Constitution does not allow it. So they cleverly started the game from the back door and these people overnight made all the castes of Muslim as OBCs and they robbed the OBCs of their rights...When the High Court's judgement came, it became clear that such a big fraud was taking place. But what is even more unfortunate is that for vote-bank politics, now they are also abusing the judiciary. And they are even saying that no matter what happens, we are not going to listen to the court. This situation cannot be acceptable under any circumstances," he said.
Six phases of the Lok Sabha elections have been completed so far and the final phase will be held on June 1 across 57 constituencies in 8 states.
The results of the elections will be declared on June 4.