Modi targets Mamata over women’s security, pledges sweeping changes in Bengal
Prime Minister Narendra Modi intensified his campaign in West Bengal, accusing the ruling Trinamool Congress of fostering lawlessness, corruption, and fear. He promised sweeping reforms if the BJP comes to power, including implementing Ayushman Bharat, granting citizenship to Matua refugees under the CAA, and reviving industries in Hooghly.
Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday sharpened his attack on the ruling TMC in West Bengal, accusing it of fostering a culture of lawlessness, failing to protect women and relying on criminal elements to run the administration, while promising sweeping changes if the BJP comes to power after the assembly elections.
Addressing rallies in North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts on the penultimate day of campaigning for the state polls, Modi focused on the issue of women’s security in the state, maintaining that the BJP’s decision to field Sandeshkhali’s Rekha Patra from Hingalganj and Ratna Debnath, mother of RG Kar rape and murder victim, from Panihati reflected “the party’s commitment to justice and safety for women”.
He alleged that the TMC government in Bengal is not run from the state secretariat but by “party-sheltered criminals”, and added that the Mamata Banerjee-led party’s “dependence on anti-social elements in ruling the state” often forces the Calcutta High Court or the Supreme Court to intervene and bring the administration back on track.
Coining an obvious antonym of Mamata Banerjee’s name, the PM described the ruling dispensation as a “nirmam sarkar” (cruel government) that thrives on fear and intimidation
Speaking at the Matua community citadel of Thakurnagar at Bongaon in his first rally of the day, Modi also said all refugees who took shelter in India following religious persecution in the neighbouring nation will be granted citizenship through procedures outlined under the Citizenship Amendment Act.
“I pledge that brothers and sisters of the Matua Namasudra community will receive citizenship through the CAA. They will be provided the same documents which other citizens of this country have,” he said, seeking to galvanise support among them.
The recent SIR exercise, allegedly resulting in a significant number of voter deletions from the sect, led to perceptible angst among the members with regard to their citizenship status.
“Don’t fall for TMC’s lies on CAA. All refugees will receive permanent addresses in this country,” the PM added.
Modi, referring to the record turnout of over 93 per cent in the first phase of polls, said, “The TMC’s arrogance was shattered in the first round, and the second phase will cement the BJP’s victory in the state.”
Maintaining that the TMC was “rattled by the high turnout”, he urged voters to further increase participation in the second phase, projecting it as a sign of growing public support for the BJP and a rejection of what he termed a rule marked by corruption, unemployment and fear.
The TMC has “stopped talking” about ‘Ma Mati Manush’, the party’s slogan when it assumed power 15 years ago, because doing so “will expose the sins they committed in Bengal”, Modi alleged.
“While ‘Ma’ (mother) is now in tears, ‘Mati’ (land) has been handed over to syndicates and infiltrators, and ‘Manush’ (people) have been forced to leave the state in search of opportunities elsewhere,” he claimed.
The PM also alluded to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s iconic pre-Independence slogan of ‘Give me blood and I will give you freedom’, to urge the people to vote for the BJP, “… and I will grant you freedom from TMC’s ‘maha jungleraj’”.
“That freedom would include liberty from TMC’s fear psychosis, corruption, crimes against women, unemployment, infiltrators, rioters and criminals,” Modi said.
In the Bangladesh-bordering region of Bongaon, he also warned all infiltrators, “who sneaked in with false documents”, to leave the country before April 29, the date for the last phase of polls, else “they will be thrown out after May 4” when the results are published.
Referring to the spectator violence at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium during the Lionel Messi football event in December last year, the PM said that the fiasco was a reflection of “the TMC’s anarchic rule” in the state.
At Arambag, Modi promised that at its very first Cabinet meeting, a BJP government in the state will give its nod to the implementation of the Centre’s flagship health insurance programme, Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana.
West Bengal is the only state that has not yet implemented the Centre’s universal healthcare coverage scheme, with the TMC government running its own Swasthya Sathi scheme that provides for secondary and tertiary care up to Rs 5 lakh per family annually.
Alleging that the credibility of the Mamata Banerjee administration “has fallen to zero”, Modi said, “The TMC has perpetrated a culture of fear in Bengal for the past 15 years. People are now back saying ‘Bhoy (fear) out, Bharosa (trust) in’,” he said.
He said people were forced to move courts against the state government and its misdeeds because “they have lost faith in it”, citing the teachers’ recruitment scam, deployment of central forces for the 2023 panchayat polls, Sandeshkhali unrest and the RG Kar rape and murder, all of which required judicial interventions.
Speaking not far from the plot where the Tata Motors small car factory project in Singur was abandoned midway, he pointed towards the “steady decline of industries” in Hooghly district.
“Decades ago, when the country produced only Ambassador cars, its production facility used to be in Hooghly’s Uttarpara. Today, when India is producing electric vehicles and exporting them, established plants are shutting operations in Bengal,” he said.
The PM pledged that the BJP will prioritise developing the Hooghly district as the country’s industrial hub, once the BJP comes to power in Bengal.
He criticised “syndicate raj” and “exploitative” practices affecting farmers, especially potato growers, alleging that middlemen linked to the ruling party purchased produce at extremely low prices and sold it at significantly higher rates elsewhere.
“After May 4, when a BJP CM takes oath in Bengal, it will signal the end of TMC’s syndicate raj, cut-money, and commission raj in the state,” Modi said.
Modi also took part in a colourful roadshow in north Kolkata.
