Releasing a “chargesheet” against the TMC government, Union Home Minister Amit Shah targeted the Mamata Banerjee-led dispensation over law and order situation and national security, framing the upcoming Assembly elections in Bengal as a battle for the country’s interests.
Addressing a press conference in Kolkata on Saturday, Shah said, “Now the people of Bengal have to choose between fear and trust. For the last 15 years, politics of fear and corruption have been going on under the TMC rule. But since 2011, BJP has been fighting against this, and I believe this time, the BJP will form the government.”
Claiming that infiltration through Assam had “almost come to an end” after the BJP came to power there, Shah alleged that West Bengal has now emerged as the “last remaining route through which infiltrators enter India and disperse across states.”
“The Bengal election is important not only for Bengal but for the entire country. The security of the entire country is, in a way, linked to the Bengal election,” Shah said.
He claimed that illegal immigration through the borders of Bengal has become a matter of concern for national security.
Shah said the security of the strategically crucial Siliguri corridor – the narrow strip linking the Northeast to the rest of India – was being endangered “because of the TMC government’s appeasement politics”.
“Due to appeasement and vote-bank politics of the TMC government, the security of the Siliguri corridor is being threatened,” he said.
The home minister alleged that despite repeated requests by the Centre, the Mamata Banerjee government had not provided the land required for fencing along the Bangladesh border.
“The TMC government has not provided land for erecting fences in bordering areas, despite several attempts to convince the state government. This is because the TMC wants to create a vote bank of infiltrators,” he alleged.
In an attempt to turn border fencing into an election promise, Shah said that if the BJP comes to power in Bengal, it would hand over the required land to the Centre within 45 days.
Hitting out at the government over the “syndicate raj”, Shah said, “The extortion racket (syndicate raj) operates from the lowest rungs to the top. The state has become a graveyard for industries. Appeasement is the mission of the government.”
Accusing the chief minister of playing the victim card to garner votes, Shah said, “Mamata has always played the victim card politics. But now the people have realised this. The ‘Maa Mati Manush’ slogan has been destroyed by herself.”
Taking potshots at Banerjee over her opposition to the Election Commission’s SIR exercise, Shah accused her of manufacturing outrage to protect the TMC’s “minority vote bank”.
“The SIR exercise has taken place in other states too, but nowhere has it been made such an issue. It has been made an issue in Bengal only because Mamata Banerjee wants to protect her vote bank. In Bengal judicial officers had to be brought in. Abusing constitutional bodies like the Election Commission is not part of Bengali culture,” Shah said.
“I want to ask the people of Bengal, should those infiltrators who have been allowed to stay here be given the right to vote? I want to make it clear from BJP’s side that we will not only remove infiltrators from the voter list, but we will remove each and every illegal immigrant from the country,” he said.
“The CM is a woman but the condition of women in the state is the poorest. There is a complete failure of the law and order situation. Under her rule, there has been a loss of the Bengali ashmita (pride),” he said.
Speaking about the clashes that erupted during a Ram Navami procession in Murshidabad on Friday, Shah said, “Because of a change of officers, there has been less violence during Ram Navami this year. This is because of the deployment of neutral officers by the EC.”
According to sources, the BJP is likely to release its poll manifesto in the first week of April.