Mamata Banerjee afraid of offending ‘infiltrator’ vote bank: Amit Shah on Ram Temple event
Amit Shah alleged that Mamata Banerjee did not attend the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ram Mandir in Ayodhya because she was "afraid" of her vote bank.
Union home minister Amit Shah launched a blistering attack against the Congress party and Mamata Banerjee's TMC, accusing them of prioritising vote bank politics over national security concerns. Addressing a rally in Bengal's Durgapur, Shah alleged that both the Congress and the TMC remained silent when terror struck during UPA rule because of their vote bank politics.
The home minister also claimed that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's fear of offending her "infiltrator" vote bank forced her to skip the consecration ceremony of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
"Mamata Banerjee and her nephew were invited to the Ram Mandir Prana Pratishtha, but they did not go. Do you know why they did not go? Let me tell you, they are afraid of their vote bank. These people who have come here by infiltration are their (TMC) vote bank, Mamata Didi is afraid of this," Shah said.
"Opposition has cared neither for people's safety nor the country's security. These people (TMC) run cut money, and create their vote bank by infiltration. Mamata Didi, you should be ashamed, you encourage infiltration in the border state and make the infiltrators your vote bank," he added.
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Accusing the TMC government of fostering a culture of corruption in Durgapur, Shah said that Mamata Banerjee's administration had facilitated a surge in criminal activities in the industrial town.
“Didi has been campaigning for 15 days to defeat BJP in Durgapur. It is my challenge that she can stay here for 5 years but cannot win Durgapur. Didi has opened a new industry of crime in the industrial town of Durgapur,” he claimed.
Amit Shah levelled allegations of widespread corruption against the INDIA bloc, citing instances of cash seizures from the residences of ministers in states ruled by opposition parties.
“INDI Alliance has done a corruption of Rs. 12 lakh crores. From the houses of didi's ministers, cash worth ₹50 crores were recovered. In Jharkhand, from the house of a Congress MP, ₹350 crores of cash was recovered,” Shah said.
“Just last night, in Jharkhand, ₹30 crores was recovered from the house of a minister,” he said, referring to the recovery of a huge amount of "unaccounted" cash during searches at the premises of a domestic help allegedly linked to the secretary of Jharkhand minister Alamgir Alam.
West Bengal, which sends 42 MPs, to Parliament, is voting in all seven phases. Polling for six Lok Sabha seats in Bengal was held across the first two phases on April 19 and 26.