KHARAGPUR/KOLKATA:Addressing a poll rally here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the ruling TMC as well as the Left-Congress combine and said only the BJP could bring development in the region.
“First there was Saradha; now there is Narada. The entire (TMC) leadership in front of the camera seen taking bribe, asking when will they get the next instalment. The party has insulted the people of Bengal.
“When I was Chief Minister of Gujarat, I had heard about ‘poriborton’ (change) in Bengal and appreciated it as the Left had ruined the State during its 34-year rule. But now I realise that what has changed was the attitude and character of Didi. She has become the empress of West Bengal and is encouraging corruption,” he said.
In his hour-long speech, the Prime Minister virulently attacked Mamata. “The only industry which is thriving in the State is bomb-making factories. The Left destroyed industry in Bengal and the Trinamool Congress created a graveyard for it. “This State once used to be the capital of entrepreneurship and the rest of India usedto emulate it. Now it’s a capital of corruption. Did you support this government for corruption?” he asked a cheering crowd, which chanted “Modi, Modi”.
He said the Left and the Congress too were insulting the people with their “unprincipled” electoral tie-up. “In Kerala they are opposed to each other but here they have an alliance. What a hypocrisy to insult you! And Didi too likes it because it suits her purpose,” he said. “All the three forces are together in Bengal to oppose the BJP. Our workers are being attacked and jailed. Youths areleaving Bengal as there is only frustration and violence here, no scope of employment,” he alleged.
He assured that he had a three-point agenda which included development, fast progress and all-round growth for the country and appealed to the electorate to give one chance to the BJP. “Do you want to bring back to power such a party which has denigrated the people of Bengal? In my two years of rule have you ever heard of a single charge of corruption?” Modi asked.
In a bid to reach out to Muslims, Modi paused for several minutes in the middle of his speech as a muezzin called for prayers from a nearby mosque.
‘What about Tehelka?’
The TMC shot back at Modi for his comments on the Narada sting operation by reminding him of the 2001 Tehelka expose which led to the exit of then BJP president Bangaru Laxman, who was caught on camera accepting bribe to facilitate a fictious defence deal.
Namo actor, can win oscar: gogoi
Guwahati: Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi an actor good enough to get an Oscar award, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Sunday said the Prime Minister had cataracts and could not see the development initiatives of the State’s Congress government. “He is a very good actor. There are, perhaps, very few like him around the world. I feel he should get the Oscar award for his wonderful acting skills,” Gogoi said at a rally in his constituency, Titabor in Jorhat district. The jibe came a day after Modi had gone hammer and tongs at Gogoi for his government’s alleged failure on the development front. He said the PM often talked of the poor but “targeted” Jawaharlal Nehru Students’ Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who belongs to a poor family. “He (Modi) says he lives for the poor but wears a suit that costs Rs.15 lakh. I have never seen such suit in my life. He maintains a good relationship with the rich and not the poor,” Gogoi said.