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KOLKATA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday accused West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee of playing politics over the deaths caused by the flyover collapse in the state’s capital, describing the collapse as “an act of fraud and not god”. He did not spare the Left-Congress alliance in West Bengal either, calling it “hypocritical”.
Addressing three well-attended public rallies at Madarihat and Siliguri in north Bengal and at Asansol industrial region from where Union MoS for Urban Development Babul Supriyo was elected, Modi alleged, “When there is a disaster people should be first saved but Didi started playing politics when people were lying in the debris of the collapsed flyover in the city. She said it started during the Left regime.
“Had the flyover been completed would Didi have given credit to the Left while inaugurating it? There is a syndicate raj... and the result was the tragic flyover collapse in which several people died. These are operators of money and mauth (deaths),” he charged.
Modi mentioned “scientific corruption” started by the Left but taken forward by Mamata. He said, “First there was the Saradha chit-fund scam in which poor people’s money was looted. Now the Narada scam has exposed TMC leaders taking bundles of currency notes and talking about giving tenders. Didi earlier used to protest against corruption, but now has allowed it to flourish.
The PM accused the “Ma, Mati and Manush” government of being a government of “TMC which means terror, mauth (death) and corruption”. He felt Mamata had become nervous as the BJP had fielded Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s grand-nephew Chandra Bose against her in the Bhawanipore Assembly seat.
Modi spoke of a possible alliance between TMC and Congress and observed, “When we called Didi for meetings in Delhi she boycotted them but visits Sonia Gandhi there.” He questioned the Congress and Left electoral alliance in Bengal describing it as “unprincipled” since the parties were opposed to each other in Kerala where too Assembly polls are scheduled.
“For 34 years, the Communists destroyed Bengal which was once the leading state in all spheres... now during the last five years TMC further deteriorated the situation. Now only bomb making factories operate in Bengal and terror prevails in the state,” he alleged.
‘Alliance to Fool People’
At Asansol, Prime Minister Modi said the Left and Congress were trying to “fool” the people. “If there is ideological difference between them, it should be there both in Kerala and Bengal.”
Huge Turnout at Rallies
The Prime Minister’s meeting at Asansol, from where Babul Supriyo was elected had a huge turnout despite the heat. The presence of youngsters in the gathering was quite noticeable.