Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee “insulted” migrant workers returning to the state on ‘Shramik Special’ trains by calling them ‘Corona Express’, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday, as he tried to reach out to the vast constituency of harried migrants and their families.
Shah asserted the migrant workers will now ensure the “exit” of the Banerjee government in the 2021 assembly polls.
He also attacked the ruling TMC supremo over the “industry of political violence” being run in the state.
Addressing a virtual rally for Bengal from the national capital, Shah, one of the architects of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, asserted the people of the state will reduce Banerjee to a “political refugee” for opposing the new law in order to “appease” a minority community.
“UP received 1,700 trains, Bihar 1,500. I was stunned when Mamata didi called Shramik Special trains coming to Bengal Corona Express. You insulted the migrants, you rubbed salt into their wounds, and now this Corona Express will lead you to your exit (from power). People will not forget this insult,” he said.
Banerjee had criticised the railways for running “too many” Shramik Special trains resulting in a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases, and deprecatingly called them Corona Express.
“Bengal is the only state in the entire country where the culture of political violence is flourishing. The only industry that is prospering in Bengal is of making crude bombs and illegal weapons.
“Bengal is the only state where communal violence is still going on. It must stop. I assure you that BJP isn’t here to bring a revolution or only to expand its support base. It is also here to revive Bengal’s rich cultural heritage…To make it ‘sonar Bangla’ (made of gold) again,” he told the BJP’s virtual ‘Jan Samvad’ rally.
The BJP, Shah said, won a staggering 303 Lok Sabha seats but he held the 18 it pocketed in West Bengal dear.
“We want this atmosphere of terror to go,” the former BJP president said, and urged people to vote the party to power in the assembly elections next year. Underscoring the need for a political change in the state, Shah said even those to voted to dislodge the Left Front government were now saing the Communist dispensation was better than the one presided over by Banerjee.
“You gave the Communists 34 years, you gave 10 years to Didi. Now give a chance to Modiji, and you will see the change. Bihar, which was once a ‘bimaru’ (laggard) state, is on the path of development ever since the NDA government took charge. Uttar Pradesh is moving ahead in just three years,” Shah said.
Indicating that the new citizenship law will be a major electoral plank in the assembly polls, Shah demanded that Banerjee explain the reasons for opposing the legislation.
“This law was brought to help the refugees. Even Mahatma Gandhi had favoured such a law after Independence. Mamata didi needs to come clean on why she opposed the CAA. What is your problem if Namshudras (an impoverished caste in Bengal) and other such communities live respectably in the country?
“You are opposing refugees getting citizenship. The people of Bengal will reduce you to a political refugee after the 2021 assembly polls. Your opposition to CAA stems from your desire to appease the minorities,” he said, targeting Banerjee.
The senior BJP leader also assailed the West Bengal government for not joining the PM Kissan Samman Nidhi for farmers and Ayushman Bharat health scheme for poor.