Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that TMC chief Mamata Banerjee and Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) founded Humayun Kabir are "two of a kind" and reiterated that the BJP will never allow a Babri Masjid to be built in Bengal if voted to power.
Addressing a poll rally in Raniganj, in West Bengal’s coal belt in Paschim Bardhaman district, Shah accused Banerjee of opposing the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya and drew parallels with Kabir’s initiative to build a mosque in Murshidabad’s Beldanga, modelled on the demolished Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.
Kabir, an MLA from Murshidabad's Bharatpur, who has now formed his own party and is seeking re-election, was suspended from the TMC in December last year after he proposed the construction of a Babri-like mosque.
"The Congress, Mamata Banerjee's TMC and other parties such as the DMK, Samajwadi Party, and Bahujan Samaj Party supported keeping Ram Lalla under a tent for 550 years.
"After receiving an overwhelming mandate from people in 2019, Modiji built the Ram temple in Ayodhya, which leaders like Banerjee opposed. Now, Humayun Kabir, who is cast in the same mould as Mamata Banerjee, wants to build Babri Masjid in Bengal," the former BJP chief said.
The BJP will never allow a Babri Masjid to be built in this state after it wins the upcoming polls, Shah asserted.
His remarks are seen as the BJP's attempt at blunting the TMC's offensive over a video in which Kabir was purportedly heard saying he was in touch with BJP leaders to unseat Banerjee from power and receiving Rs 200 crore as an advance for a Rs 1,000-crore deal to split the minority votes.
Latching on to the purported remarks in the video, the veracity of which could not be independently verified, Banerjee alleged on Sunday that the BJP has "struck a Rs 1,000-crore deal" with Kabir to defeat the TMC.
Addressing poll rallies in Mayureshwar and Khayrasole areas of Birbhum district earlier on Monday, Shah said the people of Bengal will reply to bombs and bullets with votes, and pledged the BJP would "hang the syndicate and cut money promoters upside down to make them straight" once the voters "bid adieu to the TMC government".
He said the writing on the wall is that the BJP will form a government in Bengal as the people of the state have decided to bid "Ta Ta Bye Bye" to TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee.
Alleging that TMC-sheltered criminals have tortured BJP workers in Bengal for a long time, the home minister said that after May 5, a day after counting of votes, saffron party workers will drag their torturers out of the netherworld and bring them to justice.
"I advise TMC goons to stay in their homes on April 23 (the first phase of polling), else we will pick them up one by one on May 4 and throw them in jail."
Birbhum will go to the polls in the first phase on April 23. The second phase of polling is on April 29, and the counting of votes will be held on May 4.
Accusing Banerjee of trying to "terrorise" the state's majority community, Shah said this assembly election will be fought on the issue of driving infiltrators out. He alleged that riots took place in Murshidabad, attacks were perpetrated on Ram Navami processions, and Saraswati Puja was not allowed at some places under Mamata Banerjee's rule.
The Union home minister targeted the TMC government over the issue of illegal immigration, stating, "Can the chief minister or her nephew (Abhishek Banerjee) throw infiltrators out? Only the BJP can."
"Mamata Banerjee is not giving land for border fencing, but blaming the BSF for infiltration in Bengal," he told the gathering in Raniganj.
The BJP will finish the task of allotting 600 acres of land to fence India's borders with Bangladesh within 45 days of assuming power in West Bengal, Shah said.
"And not just from Bengal, we will pick infiltrators one by one from the whole country and throw them out."
Alleging that the Manmohan Singh government, supported by Mamata Banerjee's TMC, never took firm action against Pakistani terrorists, Shah said, "Instead, they treated the terrorists with biryani."
On the other hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi directed the conduct of Operation Sindoor after the Pahalgam attack and hit Pakistan where it hurt them the most, he said.
"The Modi government crushed Naxalism in the country, and now it is time for infiltrators to be thrown out," he said, while claiming that illegal immigrants were "stealing jobs, gobbling poor people's food and orchestrating riots".
He lashed out at the TMC for allegedly indulging in scams and claimed the party embezzled money to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore. Shah took on the chief minister for her alleged comments on women in public spaces post sundown.
"Shame on Mamata Banerjee for saying that women should stay at home after 7 pm. We will ensure an environment where young girls can ride their scooties at 1 am," he said.
Referring to the BJP's poll manifesto, he pledged the enforcement of the 7th pay commission recommendations for government employees within 45 days, Rs 3,000 per month to women and unemployed youth, Rs 21,000 to pregnant women, and Rs 2,000 to specially-abled people.
"There will be 33 per cent women's reservation in government jobs, free rides for women in state buses and Rs 5 lakh free health insurance cover under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. We will also increase the annual grant to farmers to Rs 9,000," Shah said.
The senior BJP leader alleged that Banerjee's only aim is to elevate her nephew as chief minister, claiming Modiji, on the other hand, aims to empower the youth of Bengal.
"Mamata Banerjee says Bengal will be run from Delhi; I tell her that after poll results, the state's chief minister will be the son of the soil, and not from the TMC," he added.
(With inputs from PTI)
