E-Paper
Shah promises development, forest rights in Bengal tribal belt; CM hits back
CM Banerjee said no conspiracy or injury can stop her from taking forward her battle against the BJP.
Sparks flew fast and thick in poll-bound West Bengal on Monday when Union home minister Amit Shah and chief minister Mamata Banerjee targeted each other from back-to-back rallies in the tribal belts. While Shah’s chopper suffered a technical snag, Banerjee’s ankle injury didn't deter her enthusiasm. The day also witnessed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers add to the rising political temperature as they protested against the choice of candidates in several districts.
At a rally in Ranibandh in Bankura district on Monday, Shah said the BJP will fully implement the Forest Rights Act in the tribal belts of West Bengal, buy all forest products at maximum support price, provide local employment to all and spend a few thousand crores of rupees for the development of tribal people if it wins the coming election.
On a two-day tour of the tribal belt in the western part of Bengal, where the BJP performed very well in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Shah arrived at Kharagpur in West Midnapore district on Sunday night. His adversary, chief minister Mamata Banerjee, was on a tour of the same region. The statements they made at back-to-back rallies added to political heat in the poll-bound state.
Significantly, while Shah was flying from one district to the next in a chopper, BJP workers staged an agitation at several places in Bengal, including the central election office in Kolkata, opposing the fielding of some Trinamool Congress (TMC) turncoats whose names were announced on Sunday for the third and fourth phases of polling.
Also read: Adhikari seeks rejection of Mamata Banerjee's nomination, cites pending CBI case
“Some supporters are unhappy. This is not a major issue. We will sort it out through discussions,” said BJP state vice-president and Lok Sabha member Arjun Singh even as police were deployed to maintain law and order at the BJP’s new election office in the Hastings area of Kolkata.
Shah, who left for Assam in the afternoon, returned to Kolkata on Monday night after convening an emergency meeting of the party's core committee. BJP national president JP Nadda was also summoned to Kolkata. The two met senior BJP leaders at a hotel in New Town on the eastern outskirts of Kolkata.
Shah was supposed to address his first rally on Monday at Jhargram district. However, his helicopter could not land because of a technical snag. Shah was flown to Ranibandh, his second destination. A few hours later, Shah virtually addressed the people of Jhargram through a live video.
The BJP leader did not let go of this opportunity to target the TMC chief who was addressing rallies in the adjoining Purulia district where tribal voters are equally important for both parties. In 2019, the BJP won a Lok Sabha seat in Purulia, one in Jhargram and two in Bankura district.
“My helicopter developed a snag but I will not say it is a conspiracy. There can be a snag in a helicopter. That is why I got late,” Shah said in his virtual address to Jhargram residents.
While physically addressing the Ranibandh rally, he said, “We saw Mamata Didi (elder sister) got hurt in the leg. A probe is on to find out how it happened. The TMC says it was a conspiracy to assault her. The Election Commission says it was an accident. God knows what is true. Didi you say you are hurt and sad. Do you feel the pain of the mothers of those 130 BJP workers who were killed in political violence?” said Shah.
Banerjee, who sustained an injury in her ankle at Nandigram in East Midnapore on March 10, hit back at Shah from her rally. She said no conspiracy or injury can stop her from taking forward her battle against the BJP.
Without naming Shah or the BJP, she quipped, “I heard that a rally in Jhargram had to be cancelled. Had they told me, I could have sent some people.”
Her nephew Abhishek Bannerjee, who addressed a rally in West Midnapore district, also took potshots at the BJP, saying very few people are attending the saffron camp’s rallies. “You will find more people at road construction sites or tea stalls in the morning,” he said.
Shah promised a plethora of projects for the tribal belt, saying these would figure in the BJP’s election manifesto. His promises included a fund of ₹250 crore for the development of places that tribal people consider holy, schools for children in all community blocks, ₹3,000 crore for an irrigation dam on Gandheswari river in Bankura and a university in Jhargram in the memory of tribal scholar Pundit Raghunath Murmu.
Shah also announced ₹10 core each for the various tribal communities and implementation of the recommendations of the seventh pay commission for state government employees and a commission to revise the salaries of teachers.
