Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said infiltration and cattle smuggling would become “impossible” in West Bengal after the BJP elected Suvendu Adhikari as the leader of its legislature party and the party’s chief ministerial face.
Addressing the BJP legislature party meeting in Kolkata, Shah described the party’s sweeping victory in the Assembly elections as more than just an organisational expansion or ideological endorsement.
He said the mandate reflected the people’s desire for stronger national security and the restoration of democratic values in the state.
“This victory is not about the expansion of our organisation or validation of ideology, but about fixing the biggest hole in the country’s national security….Now infiltration and cow smuggling will become impossible in West Bengal,” he asserted.
Launching a sharp attack on the outgoing TMC regime, Shah alleged that during Mamata Banerjee’s 15-year rule, “politicisation of the administration and criminalisation of politics” had taken place in the state.
“During the BJP’s rule, neither administration will be politicised, nor politics will be criminalised,” he said.
Shah formally declared Adhikari as the BJP legislature party leader after what he described as a unanimous endorsement by the newly elected MLAs in West Bengal.
“The process of electing the legislature party leader has been completed. Eight proposals were received and all of them had only one name. Adequate time was given for a second name, but no other name was proposed. Therefore, I announce Suvendu Adhikari as the chief minister of West Bengal,” Shah said.
Adhikari’s elevation paves the way for the formation of the first BJP government in West Bengal after the party’s emphatic victory in the assembly elections, ending the TMC’s 15-year rule.
Shah thanked the people of Bengal for backing the BJP despite what he alleged was an atmosphere of fear and political violence prevailing in the state for decades.
“I want to express my gratitude to the people of Bengal. The atmosphere that had been created here since the Communist era was further intensified under Mamata ji’s rule. In such conditions, expressing one’s vote had become almost impossible,” he said.
“Despite hundreds of instances of violence and brutality, the people of Bengal placed their trust in the Bharatiya Janata Party and our leader Narendra Modi and gave us a massive victory,” he added.
(With inputs from PTI)