‘Till lotus blooms’: Suvendu Adhikari says won’t sleep till BJP wins Bengal | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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‘Till lotus blooms’: Suvendu Adhikari says won’t sleep till BJP wins Bengal

Hindustan Times, Kolkata | By
Dec 25, 2020 01:58 AM IST

Union home minister Amit Shah welcomed Adhikari, a former TMC heavyweight, into the BJP, of which lotus is the election symbol, on December 19 as the ruling party strives to extend its political base in West Bengal ahead of assembly elections next year.

“I will not sleep till the lotus blooms,” Suvendu Adhikari, the newest Bengal strongman of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), vowed at a massive rally in Kanthi, his hometown in East Midnapore district, on Thursday evening, a day after he was branded a “traitor” at a Trinamool Congress (TMC) roadshow in the same town.

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari during a roadshow from Mecheda Bypass to Central Bus Stand in Kanthi, East Midnapore district, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020.(PTI)
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari during a roadshow from Mecheda Bypass to Central Bus Stand in Kanthi, East Midnapore district, Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020.(PTI)

Union home minister Amit Shah welcomed Adhikari, a former TMC heavyweight, into the BJP, of which lotus is the election symbol, on December 19 as the ruling party strives to extend its political base in West Bengal ahead of assembly elections next year.

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“They (TMC) claim Mamata Banerjee will contest the elections alone and she has put in place the next generation of leadership. If that is true, then why is she sending ministers to Midnapore? She, too, will address a rally at Nandigram on January 7. I know what she is going to say. I will hold a rally in Nandigram the very next day and give her a befitting reply,” said Adhikari.

So massive was the turnout that the tableau carrying Adhikari and two state BJP leaders could move only a few inches a minute. It took the tableau more than three hours to cover the five-kilometre route leading to the rally ground.

“The overwhelming response has convinced me that I took the right decision by joining the BJP. People of Bengal want change....democracy is for the people and of the people, not for the party and by the party,” said Adhikari, who referred to himself as bhoomiputra (son of the soil).

Singling out TMC Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy and urban development minister Firhad Hakim, the two leaders who addressed Wednesday’s rally, Adhikari ridiculed them, even challenged the chief minister and took potshots at her nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

He even accused state finance minister Amit Mitra of failing to generate employment and instead generating revenue by allowing the sale of licensed country liquor in cheaper plastic pouches.

“She (Mamata Banerjee) will come second in the race. Is baar, do sau paar (this time around we will score more than 200),” Adhikari told the local media on his way to the rally ground, repeating Shah’s announcement that the BJP will win more than 200 of the state’s 294 assembly seats in the polls due in about five months.

“The TMC need not hold rallies in my district to stop me from going elsewhere in Bengal. The more they attack me the more will be the losses they suffer in East and West Midnapore districts. I will address a rally in West Midnapore on Sunday. My home is Bengal. My country is India,” said Adhikari.

Adhikari’s followers raised a unique slogan, “Hare Krishna Hare Hare, BJP ghare ghare,” implying that the BJP has entered every home with the chant Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the 15th Century Hindu saint, composed for disciples of Lord Krishna.

“Sri Chaitanya spread the message of universal love, hence this slogan. We are paying homage to Purushottam Ram and Sri Chaitanya at the same time,” said Adhikari.

That the TMC has targeted Adhikari as its prime political enemy became evident on Wednesday when clashes took place between BJP and TMC workers in the district’s Ramnagar area. The rally was organised by Akhil Giri, the TMC lawmaker from Ramnagar and a known detractor of Adhikari.

On Tuesday, Adhikari addressed his first rally as a BJP leader alongside the party’s state president Dilip Ghosh in Burdwan district. The ruling party hit back on Wednesday on Adhikari’s own turf.

“The crowd was much bigger at our roadshow. Kanthi was never a BJP bastion. The people always voted for the TMC. We will win the seat once again,” Saugata Roy, who led Wednesday’s roadshow, said on Thursday.

Adhikari accused Roy of winning the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat in 1977 through rigging and then demanding Indira Gandhi’s arrest. “He changed his stance again and shifted his allegiance to Indira Gandhi,” he said.

“I had political reasons to oppose Indira Gandhi and later realized that we need her. As far as the allegation about rigging is concerned, no court nullified the polls,” said Roy.

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Tanmay Chatterjee has spent more than three decades covering regional and national politics, internal security, intelligence, defence and corruption. He also plans and edits special features on subjects ranging from elections to festivals.

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