KOLKATA/MALDA: PM Narendra Modi brought up the issue of the recurring violence in Murshidabad during his Saturday's rally in the neighbouring district of Malda, specifying demographic imbalance and infiltration as the underlying causes.
Murshidabad's Beldanga continued to see widespread vandalism and violence as protesters blocked highways and railway tracks for the second straight day to protest against the continuing violence against Bengalis working in Jharkhand and Bihar.
Modi, during the rally at Malda's Sahapur, about 150 km away from the epicentre of the Beldanga violence, said "demographic balance" was being "disturbed at a few places". "Infiltration is impacting local culture and language and riots in districts like Murshidabad and Malda are on the rise because of this. You have to break the nexus of infiltrators and those in office," he added, promising to act against infiltration if the BJP was voted to office in Bengal.
"Every developed nation is now driving out infiltrators. It is essential in states like Bengal. But that is not possible as long as Trinamool is in office," Modi said, blaming the "the Trinamool's syndicates" for the mess.
Modi also blamed “the Trinamool’s goons” directly for attacks on media personnel in Beldanga. “They have behaved very indecently with a woman journalist. No one takes cognisance of women’s plight in Bengal. People have to move courts for everything,” he alleged.
The PM then moved on to the BJP’s more immediate pre-poll concerns, trying to assure Matuas and Namasudras that the “Indian Constitution” had given them the right to stay here. “The Citizenship Amendment Act has given them full security,” he said.
The BJP has faced serious internal dissent in the Matua belts of North 24 Parganas and Nadia, with party MPs and MLAs often speaking in different voices and Matuas hitting the streets to protest against their “victimisation” in the SIR process. Trinamool seniors, including CM Mamata Banerjee, have already visited these areas to address Matua concerns and wean them away from the BJP. A person from the Matua community also died earlier this week, prompting his family to blame “SIR worries”.
PM Modi on Saturday sought to portray the Trinamool as a party of “the cruel and the corrupt”. “They are Bengal’s enemies. They are busy filling up their own pockets. It is essential to oust such a cruel government,” he said, adding that the Trinamool’s days were numbered and their “torture” would be ending soon. He also alluded to allegations of corruption against the Trinamool during flood relief, slamming the Trinamool for “looting even during a crisis”.
“Bengal will reach new heights by the ideals of ‘Rishitulya’ Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay,” he said. Modi’s “Bankim-da” address in Parliament a few weeks ago had prompted the Trinamool to allege that the Modi and the BJP were “culturally alien” to Bengal.
Modi on Saturday inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of multiple rail and road infrastructure projects worth Rs 3,250 crore after flagging off a Vande Bharat sleeper train linking Howrah and Kamakhya (Bengal and Assam). and four Amrit Bharat Express trains (Jalpaiguri-Nagercoil, New Jalpaiguri-Tiruchirapalli, Alipurduar-Bengaluru and Alipurduar-Mumbai).
He blamed the Trinamool for the lack of investment in industry and benefits for farmers, alleging this was fuelling the migration of workforce from Bengal to other states, and highlighted how it was the only state where people were not being allowed the benefits of the Ayushman Bharat scheme.