NEW DELHI: The BJP chief Amit Shah on Wednesday charged Trinamool Congress of rioting during Tuesday roadshow in Kolkata. Shah claimed that he wouldn't have come back alive if there hadn't been the protection of the CRPF while alleging that TMC workers staged an attack on him during the roadshow.
He exhorted that the state government could constitute an SIT to probe the Tuesday incident.
Shah alleged that TMC workers as part of a conspiracy to vandalize the statue of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. He asserted that the gate of the Vidyasagar college had been shut till the conclusion of the roadshow while asking who opened the door where the statue had been vandalized. Shah stressed that he's frustrated that the statue of Vidyasagar had been vandalized.
Claiming that TMC is headed for a resounding defeat in West Bengal, Shah said that the state chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been rattled with the rise of the BJP in the state. Shah showed photographs as proof that TMC workers indulged in stone-pelting and arson aimed at him even while the CRPF personnel sought to protect him.
The BJP president further alleged that the Election Commission has remained as a mute spectator to the attempts of rigging in West Bengal.
"History sheeters across the country are put behind the bars during elections. Such criminal elements are freely indulging in political violence in the state. Why has the EC not acted against such history sheeters," Shah asked.
Shah refuted that TMC claims that vehicles of the BJP workers had been used in the Tuesday violence in the state.
The BJP chief also questioned the EC's silence over Banerjee openly threatening the BJP workers. He said that the BJP campaigners, including Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, had been restrained from campaigning in West Bengal.
He said that TMC is contesting elections on 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, while the BJP is in the contest on a much higher number of seats across the country.
"If the BJP is indulging in violence, then why such incidents are not seen in any other parts of the country. It just means that TMC indulges in violence," said Shah.
The BJP chief also asserted that the party cadres wouldn't be deterred by the filing of an FIR against him.
"Seven of the BJP workers had been killed in the state as part of TMC staged political violence. We wouldn't be deterred. People in the state will answer with ballots in the seventh phase of elections," said Shah, while stating that TMC has been practising the culture of threatening the political rivals.
Shah asserted that the BJP would sweep the elections in the state and would win over 23 Lok Sabha seats out of 42 in the state. Shah alleged that EC has been working with partiality in West Bengal.
He claimed that he has reports that the election observers had been insisting on action against history-sheeters in the state, which had been ignored.
Shah alleged that EC has a separate standard for election in West Bengal and other parts of the country.
Exuding confidence that the BJP would win over 300 Lok Sabha seats, Shah said that the proponents of the Federal Front are free to choose their leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha while wondering that the Opposition may not gain strength to bag the status of leader of Opposition.