Hummingbird News Desk
COOCH BEHAR, 6 APRIL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s appeal for the Muslim population to not divide their vote means that ‘Muslim vote bank’ that she considered her ‘strength is slipping away’.
PM Modi, who was campaigning in North Bengal’s Cooch Behar, said that he would return people’s love ‘with interest in the form of development.’
“Didi, recently you said all Muslims should unite and not allow their votes to be divided. You are saying this means that you are convinced that the Muslim votebank has also gone out of your hands. They have also turned away from you. The fact that you had to say this publicly shows that you have lost the elections,” said Modi.
Calling her out over the Hindutva jibe that she often uses to hit out at the saffron party, Modi said, “Had we asked the Hindus to unite and vote for the BJP, we would have got eight or ten notices from the Election Commission. Editorials would have been written about us in the entire country.”
Replying to Banerjee’s statement as to whether the BJP is god or superman that they can predict the outcome of polls even when half of it is not over, the PM said, “We are normal people engaged in the service of the public. I want to tell the people that I’ll return your love with interest in the form of development.”
The Prime Minister also said that Banerjee has hurt the sentiments of the people of Bengal by saying that they are given money to attend his rallies. “I have heard that you love football. In the game, there is a concept of an own goals and that is exactly what you have scored in this election,” he added.
As the third phase of the eight-phase West Bengal Assembly election is in progress, the PM appealed to the voters, saying that he would return their love with interest “in the form of development.”
PM Modi, while addressing the rally, halted his speech and directed his medical team to assist a woman who was feeling unwell at the venue. The Prime Minister also asked the volunteers at the rally to immediately provide water to the woman.
Meanwhile, the third phase of the West Bengal Assembly polls is underway on Tuesday.
A total of 31 Assembly constituencies in districts including eight in Hooghly, seven in Howrah and 16 in South 24 Parganas are going to polls in phase-III. There are 205 candidates in the fray in this round of polling. However, when it comes to women representation, there are only 13 women candidates contesting in this phase, merely six per cent.
Polling for the first two phases of the West Bengal elections was held on 27 March and 1 April respectively. The fourth phase of polling will take place on April 10. The counting of votes will take place on 2 May.
Image Courtesy: twitter@BJP4Bengal
