Mathurapur, May 16:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday wound up BJP’s poll campaign in West Bengal alleging that the state police in connivance with the TMC government is trying to wipe out evidence of the desecration of social reformer-polymath Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s statue. Adressing election meetings for the final phase of polling in the state barely hours before the EC-curtailed canvassing ended, he lambasted Banerjee for her comments against the poll body and said had it and the central forces not ensured free and fair polls she would have never been the chief minister by defeating the Left rule. Modi also criticised Banerjee for her comments labelling BJP leaders as “outsiders” and said Bengal is very much a part of the country and is not the “personal fiefdom of Didi and her nephew” (Abhishek Banerjee). Addressing a rally at Mathurapur in Joynagar Lok Sabha constituency, he said Banerjee is frustrated over her party Trinamool Congress’ imminent defeat and has threatened to put him behind bars after the general elections.
“TMC goons are spreading violence and they vandalised the statue of Vidyasagar. The way the state government had erased the proof of the Narada and Sarada scams, in the same manner it is trying to remove evidence of this incident,” he said.
The desecration of Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar’s bust in the violence during BJP president Amit Shah’s roadshow in Kolkata on Tuesday in a college named after the social reformer has been pitchforked in the centrestage of politics in the run up to the final phase of the Lok Sabha polls.
“Those involved in the act of vandalising the statue should be meted out exemplary punishment”, Modi said and alleged that police officers are trying to wipe out evidences of the incident in order to save the TMC “goons”.
“The TMC and its goons have made Bengal a hell. Those involved in this act, in this sin, should be meted out strong punishment,” he said.
Keeping up his vitriolic attack, the prime minister said “Didi (Banerjee) is abusing the EC and central forces today. But there was a time when during the Left rule, she too used to demand deployment of central forces.
“Had the EC and central forces not conducted free and fair polls, Didi would have never been Chief Minister of the state,” he told another rally at Dum Dum in Kolkata.
This Lok Sabha election in Bengal will be remembered for the violence and attack on opposition parties in all the previous six phases, Modi said.
In the first such action in India’s electoral history, the EC had on Wednesday invoked Article 324 of the Constitution to curtail the campaigning for the last phase of the election on May 19 in the wake of violence between BJP and Trinamool Congress workers in Kolkata on Tuesday.
Hitting out at Banerjee for calling BJP leaders and workers “outsiders”, Modi said she has problems with people coming from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar but is welcoming infiltrators with open arms.
“Didi should not forget that if people have come from Bihar, UP then they are contributing towards Bengal’s growth. Bengal is not a personal fiefdom of Didi and her nephew….I want to remind Didi that West Bengal is not her nephew’s property,” he said.
Mocking Banerjee’s aspiration of becoming the next prime minister, Modi said she can very well dream of it but should not make any comment which affects the morale of the country’s armed forces.
In an apparent reference to the arrest of BJP youth wing activist Priyanka Sharma, who walked out of jail on Wednesday on Supreme Court’s orders after being arrested for posting a morphed picture of Banerjee on Facebook, the prime minister said she puts saffron party workers behind bars just for circulating a joke, but leaves TMC goons free to “torture the masses”.
He mocked opposition leaders for dreaming of becoming the prime minister with “just four, five, eight, or 30 seats,” and said most of the opposition parties have given up their claims for the post after the sixth phase of polls.
“If you see recent statements by opposition parties and also by the Congress, which thinks PM’s post is their birth right, they have given up their claims for the PM’s post even before the voting is over. This only reflects that they have lost the elections,” he said.
Modi even joked saying opposition leaders had given orders for stitching new clothes but after the sixth phase of elections sensing defeat have taken them back.
Taking a dig at Abhishek Banerjee, Modi said the “aunt-nephew jodi” is interested only in looting Bengal and running the “Tolabaji syndicate” (extortion racket).
The days of the “bua-bhatija” government in the state are numbered going by the mood of the people. The peoples’ mood will help BJP win the majority of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state and more than 300 seats in the state, Modi claimed.
Dubbing Banerjee as “sticker Didi”, Modi said she is not interested in the development of Bengal but is keen on putting her own stickers on central projects.
He said the TMC supremo does not have faith in the country’s prime minister but does not hesitate in praising the Pakistan prime minister.
