Dilip Ghosh says will turn Bengal into Gujarat, TMC hits back

BJP state president Dilip Ghosh. (File)

A WAR of words erupted between the TMC and the BJP Monday after the West Bengal BJP unit chief and MP Dilip Ghosh said his party will work towards “turning West Bengal into Gujarat” once it comes to power in the state.

Referring to the Left Front rule in the state and its leaders, Ghosh Said, “Leaders such as Biman Bose, Buddhababu (former CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee) made sure people here do not become doctors, engineers but migrant labourers who seek jobs in Gujarat. We want to turn Bengal into Gujarat once we form a government here. Didi (Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) often accuses us of trying to turn West Bengal into Gujarat. Yes, absolutely. We will turn Bengal into Gujarat so that our children get jobs here,” the BJP leader said after interacting with residents at Barasat in North 24 Parganas district.

The remarks drew sharp criticism from the ruling TMC.

Party leader and state minister Firhad Hakim urged the BJP MP to leave Bengal and settle down in Gujarat. “Around 2,000 people were killed in the Gujarat riots in 2002. If we turn Bengal into Gujarat, people will be scared of dying in encounters. We do not want to turn Bengal into Gujarat. This is Rabindranath Tagore’s Bengal, Nazrul’s Bengal. People need to decide whether to retain Bengal’s cultural heritage or inherit riot politics from Gujarat.”

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