Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday kicked off the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) poll campaign in West Bengal, invoking football analogy as he launched a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress State government, accusing it of committing many “fouls”.
“Bengal is a State that loves football. In the language of football, I want to say that the Trinamool Congress government has committed many fouls. There has been the foul of misgovernance, the foul of political violence and the foul of looting the money of the people. People are ready and will soon show them the Ram card,” Mr. Modi said, addressing a public rally in Haldia in the State’s Purba Medinipur district.
The Prime Minister also alleged, “a match-fixing between the Left and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal”. “Any vote for Left and Congress will mean that we will fall into the trap of this match-fixing,” he said.
Referring to the leaders defecting from the Trinamool Congress to the BJP, Mr. Modi said that those who want to do away with the “Bua-bhatija (aunt-nephew)” government had said “Ram-Ram” (goodbye) to them [the TMC] and joined us [the BJP] saying Jai Shri Ram”.
‘PM Kisan denied’
During his 40-minute speech, the Prime Minister targeted the Trinamool Congress government on various fronts, accusing it of denying the benefits of the PM Kisan and Ayushman Bharat schemes to the people of the State.
“I feel a lot of pain that even in the distressing times of corona, lakhs of farmers of the State have been deprived of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi. Not a single farmer got the benefit because the State government here refused to join the scheme. Now that the farmers here have decided to teach the Trinamool Congress government a lesson, the State government with little intent has sent a letter saying that they want to join the scheme,” he said.
The Prime Minister promised that after the BJP government was formed in the State, the implementation of the PM Kisan scheme would be approved and all the pending benefits that could not reach the farmers would be paid to them.
About 70 lakh famers have not received seven instalments adding up to ₹14,000 under the PM Kisan scheme over two-and-a-half years, according to the BJP. The Trinamool Congress government has started the Krishak Bandhu scheme in which ₹5,000 is paid annually to farmers in the State.
‘Defaming nation’
Mr. Modi also made a direct attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. “In Bengal, if people ask Didi about their rights, she gets angry. Even if someone raises the slogan ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’, she gets upset. But she remains silent when there is a conspiracy to defame the country,” he said, making an oblique reference to the developments on January 23, when Ms. Banerjee was upset by the ‘Jai Shri Ram’ slogans raised at Victoria Memorial.
Mr. Modi said that those behind the “international conspiracy” to defame the country had become so desperate that they were targeting tea and Yoga.
‘TMC resurrected Left’
Recalling the political situation in Bengal in 2011, when the people of the State ushered in “paribartan (change)” and brought the Trinamool Congress government to power, Mr. Modi said that instead of real change, the TMC regime had been “a resurrection of Left rule in the State”.
Mr. Modi alleged that even during natural disasters such as cyclone Amphan and the global COVID-19 crisis, the Trinamool Congress government had looked for opportunities for corruption.
Raising questions over how the State had fallen behind the rest of India despite shining in development indicators in the pre-Independence days, Mr. Modi blamed politics in the State for the tardy pace of development.
“We require double engine government here to usher in development at a faster pace. Real development will come only when the BJP is elected in the State,” the Prime Minister said.