J P Nadda flags off BJP ‘rath yatra for change’, slams Mamata govt

BJP national president J P Nadda on Saturday inaugurated ‘Parivartan Yatra’ without police permission and questioned Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s “anger” at the raising of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans at a recent attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Why does she hate the Jai Shri Ram slogan so much? Is it wrong to connect with the culture of one’s own country? They (the TMC) want to negate the country’s culture for the sake of vote-bank politics,” he told a gathering at Nabadwip in Nadia district — the birthplace of 15th-century saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The Nadia ‘Parivartan Yatra’ is among five such rallies that will criss-cross all 294 constituencies to mobilise support for the BJP ahead of the state Assembly polls in April-May.

In Malda, Nadda attended the final round of the party’s month-long ‘Krishak Suraksha Abhiyan’ and ‘Ek Mutthi Chawal’ campaigns. He accused Banerjee’s “ego” of depriving the state’s farmers of PM-Kisan benefits and reaffirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to farmers’ welfare.

The two campaigns are aimed at mobilising Bengal farmers in favour of the BJP, which has been battling protests against the three farm laws across the country. With the campaigns, the BJP also hopes to blunt TMC’s charge that the saffron party is “anti-farmer”. “Total 70 lakh farmers in the state have been deprived of the annual Rs 6,000 aid in the last two years,” he said at the rally attended by farmers. Before the rally between Foara More and Rabindranath Tagore’s statue, Nadda sat on the floor to eat khichdi with farmers.

Meanwhile, Nabadwip in Nadia, Nadda raised ‘Onek hoychhey Mamata, parivartan chaichhey janata’ slogan (enough of Mamata, people now want change).

This was followed by a one-km roadshow amid chants of “Jai Shri Ram” and petal showers on a lorry occupied by Nadda, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh and other party leaders.

BJP state president Rahul Sinha, who was also at the roadshow, said, “If Banerjee hears ‘Inshallah’ slogan, she does not get angry. She is raising ‘Jai Bangla’ slogans. This is not her slogan. This is the slogan of Bangladesh. She basically wants to merge West Bengal with Bangladesh. She wants to turn this state into a Pakistan. We will not allow that.”