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PM Modi fires fresh salvos at Mamata, Cong-AIUDF
Polling, which is slated to begin from March 27, will be held in three phases for 126-member Assembly in Assam and in eight-phases for 294 seats in West Bengal.
With just a few days left for the polls to begin, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday stepped up his attack on political opponents as he cautioned the people against the Congress-AIUDF ‘Mahajoth’ (alliance) in Assam and conveyed to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee that no Indian was an “outsider” in the state.
Polling, which is slated to begin from March 27, will be held in three phases for 126-member Assembly in Assam and in eight-phases for 294 seats in West Bengal.
Targeting the Congress at an election rally in Assam’s Silchar, Modi said that the Grand Old Party did not have any ideals or able leaders. “Congress ke paas na neta hai na niti, sirf Mahajhoot hai (Congress neither has a leader nor ideals, it only has a grand lie),” he told the crowd.
The Congress in the state has tied up with the All India United Democratic Front, Bodo People’s Front, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Rashtriya Janata Dal and Anchalik Gana Morcha to fight the polls.
Accusing the party of going to any extent to win the elections, Modi said: “I have come to awaken you to the fact that Congress’s hand is with those forces that are a danger to the state’s identity and culture.”
The Prime Minister claimed that it was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that helped Assam get rid of the violence that, he claimed, was common during the Congress regime. “Look at West Bengal today… there are news of violence every day. Assam was going through a similar situation during the Congress’ rule. In the 2016 assembly election, the people of Assam chose BJP with a hope that this will bring peace with development. Today, there is a flow of development in every part which has helped us restore peace in the state,” he said.
“The Congress has always taken sides of infiltrators and illegal migrants while the BJP wants to protect the original indigenous people of this land. I appeal to the people of Assam to reject Congress for the lies and choose BJP for development to protect the pride of this state,” he added.
While campaigning for the saffron party in West Bengal later in the day, the Prime Minister lashed out at the chief minister over her “bohiragoto” (outsider) remark, saying that nobody can be called an outsider in a land where icons such as Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Subhas Chandra Bose talked about unity and one nation.
“You call me an outsider? This is the land where Gurudev wrote Punjab Sindhu Gujarat Maratha Dravida Utkal Banga…..No Indian is an outsider here. We are all Indians,” Modi said in Bengali in East Midnapore’s Contai area.
“Bengal brought together the people of India through Vande Mataram, and on that land, Mamata-didi is talking about ‘bohiragoto’. No Indian is an outsider here, they are the children of Bharat Mata,” he added.
The ruling Trinamool Congress has been describing the BJP as “a party of outsiders” as a strategy in the West Bengal assembly election. Banerjee has regularly asserted that she won’t allow the state to be ruled by “outsiders” from Delhi or Gujarat, in a reference to the BJP and the prime minister.
Modi also said that a son of the soil would be appointed as the chief minister if the party was voted to power.
Besides this, he also accused the chief minister of insulting the people of Nandigram through allegations of an attack on March 10 that left her with an injury on her leg.
“You are maligning the people of Nandigram before the country. The people of Nandigram will not forgive you. They will give you a befitting reply,” Modi said.
Banerjee, meanwhile, accused the BJP of cash distribution to seize votes. “They are bringing a lot of money. Keep your eyes open. If you can catch someone red-handed you will be awarded with a job,” she told a rally in Bankura district.
The TMC also approached the State’s Chief Electoral Officer, accusing the BJP of misusing government infrastructure for political campaigns in the state.
