‘Bengal Ready To Respond With Votes’: Amit Shah Targets ‘Infiltrators’

Kolkata, Apr 13 (PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday stated that the people of West Bengal will reply to bombs with votes on EVMs during the assembly polls and are determined to throw infiltrators out, while asserting that the BJP will definitely form the government in the state.

Acknowledging that the SIR of voters’ list is a “major issue” in the state polls, Shah, during his end-of-the-day roadshow in Durgapur, told PTI videos that the responsibility for political violence in Bengal lies only with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, who is the TMC’s general secretary.

Earlier, while addressing a crowd in Paschim Bardhaman’s Ranigunj, the home minister said Mamata Banerjee and Aam Janata Unnayan Party chief Humayun Kabir are “two of a kind”, and the BJP will never allow a Babri Masjid to be built in Bengal if it wins the assembly elections.

“The BJP would definitely form a government in Bengal after the polls. This is the only region left in the country where political violence is most commonplace, and the responsibility for that lies only with Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee,” Shah said during his Durgapur roadshow.

“SIR is indeed a major issue for West Bengal. Should there be foreign voters in this country? India is not a ‘dharamsala’ (charitable home). Infiltrators must be thrown out. No matter what Mamata Banerjee says, people have resolved to remove infiltrators from the state this time,” he added.

Addressing a poll rally at Mayureshwar in Birbhum district, Shah said the BJP will “end mafia raj” in the state after winning the polls.

“People of Bengal have decided to bid goodbye to the Mamata Banerjee government; they will reply to bombs and bullets with votes,” he said.

In Ranigunj, Shah accused Banerjee of opposing the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, and drew parallels with Kabir’s initiative to build a mosque in Murshidabad’s Beldanga modelled on the demolished Babri Masjid in Ayodhya.

Kabir, an MLA from Murshidabad’s Bharatpur, who has now formed his own party and is seeking re-election, was suspended from the TMC in December last year after he proposed the construction of a Babri-like mosque.

“The Congress, Mamata Banerjee’s TMC and other parties such as the DMK, Samajwadi Party, and Bahujan Samaj Party supported keeping Ram Lalla under a tent for 550 years.

“After receiving an overwhelming mandate from people in 2019, Modiji built the Ram temple in Ayodhya, which leaders like Banerjee opposed. Now, Humayun Kabir, who is cast in the same mould as Mamata Banerjee, wants to build Babri Masjid in Bengal,” the former BJP chief said.

The BJP will never allow a Babri Masjid to be built in this state after it wins the upcoming polls, Shah asserted.

His remarks are seen as the BJP’s attempt at blunting the TMC’s offensive over a video in which Kabir was purportedly heard saying he was in touch with BJP leaders to unseat Banerjee from power and receiving Rs 200 crore as an advance for a Rs 1,000-crore deal to split minority votes.

Latching on to the purported remarks in the video, the veracity of which PTI could not independently verify, Banerjee alleged on Sunday that the BJP has “struck a Rs 1,000-crore deal” with Kabir to defeat the TMC.

Addressing poll rallies in Birbhum, Shah pledged the BJP would “hang the syndicate and cut money promoters upside down to make them straight” after winning the elections.

He said the writing on the wall is that the BJP will form a government in Bengal as the people of the state have decided to bid “Bye Bye” to CM Banerjee.

Alleging that TMC-sheltered criminals have tortured BJP workers in Bengal for a long time, the home minister said that after May 5, a day after counting of votes, saffron party workers will drag their torturers out of the netherworld and bring them to justice.

“I advise TMC goons to stay in their homes on April 23 (the first phase of polling), else we will pick them up one by one on May 4 and throw them in jail,” he said.

Shah has been paying regular visits to the state over the last few weeks and has held multiple rallies across the state in the run-up to the April 23 polls, sharpening the infiltration issue as one of most prominent poll planks of the saffron party.

West Bengal will vote in two phases, on April 23 and 29, and votes will be counted on May 4.

Accusing Banerjee of trying to “terrorise” the state’s majority community, Shah alleged that riots took place in Murshidabad, attacks were perpetrated on Ram Navami processions, and Saraswati Puja was not allowed at some places under Mamata Banerjee’s rule.

He targeted the TMC government over the issue of illegal immigration, stating, “Can the chief minister or her nephew (Abhishek Banerjee) throw infiltrators out? Only the BJP can.” “Mamata Banerjee is not giving land for border fencing, but blaming the BSF for infiltration in Bengal,” he told the gathering in Raniganj.

The BJP will finish the task of allotting 600 acres of land to fence India’s borders with Bangladesh within 45 days of assuming power in West Bengal, Shah said.

“And not just from Bengal, we will pick infiltrators one by one from the whole country and throw them out,” he said.

Shah reiterated his party’s resolve to implement a Uniform Civil Code in the state. “Once enforced, the UCC will put an end to the practice of certain members getting married four times,” he said.

He lashed out at the TMC for allegedly indulging in scams and claimed the party embezzled money to the tune of Rs 5,000 crore. Shah took on the chief minister for her alleged comments on women in public spaces post sundown.

“Shame on Mamata Banerjee for saying that women should stay at home after 7 pm. We will ensure an environment where young girls can ride their scooties at 1 am,” he said. 

(Disclaimer: This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)