Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said that once the BJP comes to power in West Bengal, it will “identify and remove every infiltrator” from the state.
Campaigning for the BJP in the border district of Cooch Behar in north Bengal, Shah said, “Till now, the EC has only removed the names of the infiltrators from the electoral rolls, but we will remove them from the soil of Bengal.”
Shah was referring to the deletion of over 89 lakh names from the electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls carried out by the Election Commission (EC).
On a day when Samrat Choudhary took oath becoming the first BJP chief minister in Bihar, Shah at an election rally in Tufanganj said that barring West Bengal, all the states bordering it has BJP government.
“Tripura has a BJP government, Assam will again have a BJP government, and today, a BJP government has been formed in Bihar. Now, I urge you all to form a BJP government in Bengal so that the entire border will be sealed,” he said, and alleged that the TMC government in West Bengal was not allotting 600 acres of land to the Centre for fencing the border.
“I am saying that after May 4, when the BJP government is formed, each and every infiltrator will be identified and removed from this soil by us,” the Union Home Minister added.
Alleging that the “peace and tranquility” of Cooch Behar has been “robbed by TMC goons”, Shah said, “North Bengal is known for three Ts — Tea, Timber and Tourism. But Mamata Banerjee has added a fourth T — tears of BJP workers who have suffered immeasurably in the hands of TMC goons.”
“I want to warn the goons of TMC to stay inside their homes on April 23. Otherwise, all will be behind bars after May 5. They have killed hundreds of our party workers. Once we come to power, they will be brought to justice,” Shah said.
Cooch Behar votes in the first phase of polling on April 23. The counting of votes will take place on May 4.
Accusing the TMC of running a corrupt government, Shah pledged that all those “who looted the treasury of Bengal” will be put behind bars.
Accusing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of giving “step-motherly treatment” to north Bengal, the BJP leader said, “In the Bengal budget of Rs 4 lakh crore, money allocated to North Bengal was only Rs 1,200 crore. We will give priority to the development of North Bengal. From Darjeeling to the Sunderbans, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will build a new national highway. There will be an AIIMS, an IIT for youths, an IIM sports university, a tribal university, and a cancer hospital. Will develop Darjeeling as an adventure tourism hub and build four industrial townships for the employment of the youth.”
Reiterating the party’s promise of implementing the Uniform Civil Code and the 7th Pay Commission recommendation, Shah said that once coming to power, the BJP government will set up a Narayani battalion in the state Reserve Police Force as a tribute toNarayani Sena. “For the local artists and folk singers, we will build an institute here and revive the closed jute mills by bringing in new machines,” he added.
Addressing an election rally in Rajganj in Jalpaiguri district, he said, “Modi ruled Gujarat for 12 years and has been at the helm in the Centre for another 12 years. Yet no corruption charge, involving even a penny, could be levelled against him. Vote the BJP to power in Bengal, and we will recover every cent that TMC leaders have stolen from people, along with interest, and return it to the poor.”