From Singur, synonymous with Mamata Banerjee’s land acquisition stir against Tata’s Nano car factory that stormed her to power in West Bengal two decades ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused her government of failing to bring industries to the state and linked it to the law and order situation.
Addressing a rally in Singur, where he launched development projects worth over Rs 830 crore in West Bengal, and flagged off three Amrit Bharat trains connecting Kolkata with other parts of the country, the prime minister said, “Bengal’s industrial decline was rooted in the politics of agitation and syndicates… Industry will only come to Bengal when law and order is restored. A ‘syndicate tax’ is levied here on everything. The BJP will end this, that is Modi’s guarantee.”
With Assembly elections in the state only months away, the prime minister exhorted people to defeat the TMC and install a BJP government in the state, saying the era of lawlessness must come to an end. “The BJP recently stopped ‘jungleraj’ from coming in Bihar. Now, the BJP is ready to bid farewell to TMC’s ‘Maha Jungleraj’ in Bengal,” he said.
Pitching for a “double-engine government” – BJP in power in the state as well as the Centre – the prime minister cited Tripura, which has a substantial Bengali population and was ruled by the Left for decades before BJP came to power.
“Earlier in Tripura, only four out of 100 homes had tap water. Today, 85 out of 100 homes receive tap water. In Bengal, half the population still lacks this facility. The BJP will change this. This is Modi’s guarantee,” he said.
“BJP will promote unique local products like Dhaniakhali sarees, jute, and handloom, while modernising cold storage for farmers and fishermen,” the prime minister added.
Accusing the TMC government of “acting against” its own people by deliberately not implementing Central schemes, the prime minister said, “We created a digital platform for the nation’s fishermen. While all other states are registering names, it has been stopped in Bengal. PM-Shree schools are being opened everywhere, yet Bengal is being deprived of them too. Should such a government stay or go?”
“I constantly strive to serve Bengal’s youth, farmers, mothers and sisters, but the TMC government does not allow central schemes to reach you. If they have a problem with Modi or the BJP, that is understandable. But they are taking revenge on the people of Bengal,” he claimed.
Stating the people of Delhi voted out the AAP government for not implementing Central schemes, Modi said, “We kept asking the Delhi government to implement Ayushman Bharat. When they didn’t, they sent the CM back home. Today, the poor there (in Delhi) get free treatment. The same should happen here.” “The people of Bengal will punish the cruel TMC government,” Modi claimed.
Taking a dig at the TMC for its campaign on Bengali asmita and pride, Modi claimed that his government at the Centre was instrumental in getting the UNESCO heritage tag for Kolkata’s Durga Puja.
“The TMC government talks so much about the Bengali language, but it was only after you gave me your blessings that the Bengali language received its due status as a classical language. Through the efforts of the BJP government, UNESCO granted the status of Cultural Heritage to Durga Puja. Why couldn’t the TMC achieve this when they were partners in Sonia Gandhi’s (UPA) government? It is because Modi has such love and dedication for Bengal that all of this is becoming possible,” the prime minister said. He also linked Hooghly to the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, saying, “The relationship between Hooghly and Vande Mataram is deep and special. It was right here that Rishi Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay gave the anthem its final form.”
Accusing the TMC of being “enemies of women, youth and farmers”, Modi claimed that daughters were unsafe and the future of Bengal’s youth was being compromised. “Women and youth must raise their voices. Under the TMC’s rule, education is ruined by corruption.. Your vote will decide that rapes do not take place in colleges, incidents like Sandeshkhali are not repeated, and teachers do not lose their jobs due to corruption,” he said.
Asking the crowd to chant, “Paltano dorkar, chai BJP sorkar (Need to change, we want BJP), the prime minister reiterated his charge against the TMC government on alleged infiltration of people from Bangladesh. “The TMC is playing with national security. They are trying to protect infiltrators because they consider them their vote bank… Illegal immigrants along Bengal’s borders had been allowed to flourish under the state government’s watch… Border fencing has been stalled for years. Fake documents are being made. It is time to stop infiltration completely and identify and send back those who entered with forged papers. The BJP government will do it,” the PM said.
“The TMC can go to any extent to protect infiltrators by giving them shelter and creating fake documents,” Modi said, urging voters to back the BJP to “secure borders, restore law and order and put Bengal back on the path of growth”.