Biswabrata Goswami
DASPUR, 16 MARCH: To amplify the BJP’s election campaign and give a boost to its ongoing ‘Parivartan’ (Change) in the state, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh kickstarted his campaign from Daspur in West Midnapore under Junglemahal area and slammed the Mamata Banerjee government for failing to maintain law and order situation.
“Go to Uttar Pradesh or any other state where BJP is in power, there is peace,” he reiterated.
Criticising Mamata Banerjee’s popular slogan “Khela Hobe”, the defence minister asserted that BJP will obviously play the Khela (game) in the line of development and peace after the victory in the assembly polls.
“The BJP does not do politics for forming government but for the development of the country,” he asserted, and added the party, if voted to power, will transform West Bengal from a “police state to public state”.
Mr Singh said the Modi government brought Jammu and Kashmir on par with any other part of the country by abrogating Article 370 of the Constitution.
With the conduct of panchayat elections in Jammu and Kashmir, people there have realised for the first time what a democratic system means, he said. “India has become a powerful country under the Modi government,” he asserted.
He said the BJP will form the government in the state winning more than 200 of the 294 seats.
Mr Singh who addressed a large crowd in Daspur, said, “Asol parivartan (true change) will usher in on 2 May, the day of the counting of votes for the eight-phase assembly elections that commence on 27 March.”
In a reference to the insider-outsider debate that the Trinamul has started while branding the BJP a party of outsiders, he said the BJP is the present-day avatar of Jana Sangh, which the son of the soil Syama Prasad Mukherjee had founded.
He said the Narendra Modi government has allocated Rs 25,000 crore in the Union Budget for development of the highways in West Bengal.
“The roads being built in the state are from funds released by the Modi government and not Mamata Banerjee,” he asserted.
Mr Singh said Rajiv Gandhi, as the prime minister, had lamented that out of every rupee sent for welfare works, only 16 paisa reached the people.
But the Modi government has ensured that every paisa released by the Centre reaches people on the ground for which PM Jan-Dhan Yojana has been launched so the money could be directly credited to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries.
Coming down heavily on the Mamata Banerjee government for not implementing welfare programmes meant for the poor and backward sections, Mr Singh said, “Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana has not been implemented by the TMC government.”
He assured that every family in the state will have a house by the beginning of 2022, if the BJP comes to power in Bengal.
He further said while farmers in the rest of the country have got funds in their accounts under the PM Kisan Samman Yojana, those in West Bengal have not benefited since the Mamata Banerjee government has not sent the list of potential beneficiaries.
He assured that the beneficiaries will be given the money with arrears once the BJP comes to power.
Speaking at the rally, Mr Singh gave several assurances citing that if BJP comes to the power, no one will be able to extort money from people or indulge in violence.
“Mamata didi had given the slogan of ‘”Ma, Mati, Manush’” (mother, land, people), but now neither Ma is safe nor the manush or the mati of Bengal are secure,” he said.
While speaking at the rally, Mr Singh raised finger at chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleging that she in her desperation to win the polls hatched out a conspiracy theory and blamed BJP for her leg injury in Nandigram.
Investigating agencies, however, maintained she got injured because of the lacunae in her security arrangement and not by BJP workers, he said.
“BJP workers can never raise their hand on anyone,” he asserted, adding party activists found indulging in any such activity will be shown the door.
Mr Singh further said around 150 workers have been killed in political violence during the TMC rule, but “Can Mamata didi bring them back to life for their mothers.”
Mr Singh also addressed a rally in Goaltore in West Midnapore.
