There should be fire in your hearts: MP minister urges for Bengal votes

Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra

In a move to mobilise support for the BJP in the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra on Tuesday held a meeting with representatives of 15 Bengali associations here, and urged them to help bring the party to power in the Trinamool-ruled state.

This was the first in a series of meetings that are scheduled to be held across the state over the next 15 days, during which Mishra, who is party in-charge for 48 assembly constituencies in Asansol and Burdwan areas of West Bengal, will meet prominent citizens to gather support of the three lakh Bengali families living in Madhya Pradesh for the BJP.

“Bengal had a rich history and played an important role in India’s freedom struggle. It gave India leaders like Syama Prasad Mookerjee. But the BJP, the party whose foundation was laid by Syama Prasad Mookerjee, is the only party to not have ruled in Bengal, which was under Communist rule, Congress and now the Trinamool Congress headed by Mamata Banerjee,” Mishra told the representatives of the associations, who came under the banner of Madhya Pradesh Prabashi Bengali Parishad to gather support for the BJP from the nearly 50,000 Bengali families in Bhopal.

Speaking about his recent visit to West Bengal, he said, “It was difficult to ascertain if there were potholes on the road, or if the road was a big pothole. At least 124 workers of the BJP have been killed in West Bengal where the situation of law and order is so bad that no can step out of their homes at night.”

“There should be a fire in your hearts that this time we need to connect nationalism to Bengal. We need to connect Bengal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah and J P Nadda. You have to get behind it with all force,” he told the association leaders, who promised to travel to West Bengal to gather support for the BJP.

Parishad president Salil Chatterjee said, “We are very upset with how the situation in Bengal has only worsened. Today we have taken a resolution to end the anarchy in Bengal by bringing the BJP to power. We have our groups, clubs, friends and families in Bengal and we will contact them and gather support for the saffron party.”

Over the next 15 days, Mishra is likely to hold similar meetings in Jabalpur, Indore, Gwalior and Katni among other places which have sizeable Bengali population.

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