West Bengal polls: Mamata calls BJP ‘party of rioters’, Modi hits back, says 'game' will be over on 2 May

Raising the pitch for ‘Sonar Bangla’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday criticised the TMC- led government in West Bengal’s Purulia district for alleged corruption and lack of development. Excoriating Mamata Banerjee for pursuing "appeasement and vote bank politics", and presiding over a corrupt administration, Modi said her game will be over (khela shesh hobe) when votes for the Assembly elections are counted in May.

On the other hand, the TMC supremo hit back at the BJP claiming that BJP leaders were trying to lure voters by giving them money. “BJP leaders arrive here in choppers and planes from outside with bagful of cash to lure voters and loot votes,” she said.

Meanwhile, clashes broke out between supporters of the TMC and the BJP on Thursday during Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan's rally in Nandigram, Purba Medinipur, leaving at least two TMC workers injured, according to PTI.

Pradhan, however, claimed that five to six TMC men attacked Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (the youth wing of the BJP) workers who had taken out a rally in the Sonachura area of Nandigram, minutes after the party's candidate from Nandigram, Suvendu Adhikari, passed by the area.

West Bengal is set to go to polls in eight phases starting 27 March with the final phase scheduled to take place 9 April, while counting of votes will take place on 2 May.

TMC will be punished for 10 years of misrule, says PM Modi

Addressing an election rally in Purulia, the tribal Jangalmahal region of the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged the ruling TMC never considered Dalits, backwards and Adivasis its own, and claimed that these sections were the worst victims of "cut money" culture and "Tolabaji" (extortion) by the state's ruling party.

He also accused the Banerjee government of patronising underground Maoist rebels who loot public money.

"The single most important reason for infiltration is appeasement and vote bank politics being pursued by Didi's government," he said at a public meeting.

"On 2 May, the day the votes for Assembly elections will be counted, Didi's 'khela shesh hobe, vikas shuru' (her game will be over and development will start)," he said, in a sarcastic reference to the West Bengal chief minister's "Khela Hobe" (game on) slogan that she chants at all her election rallies.

During the meeting, Modi repeatedly accused Banerjee, the ruling TMC supremo, of appeasing a section of people for vote bank politics.

"People of Bengal have a strong memory. Bengal remembers who accused the army of plotting a coup, whose side you took during the Pulwama attack and the Batla House encounter," he said.

In a speech peppered with sentences in Bengali in the largely rural region, Modi said the Mamata Banerjee government and the Left Front dispensation before her stalled its economic development.

While the TMC government was busy "playing its khela", the tribal region slipped deeper into penury, industries were not allowed to be set up, and as its water woes compounded, farming became a difficult proposition, forcing people to migrate in search of jobs.

"The TMC never considered Dalits, backwards and Adivasis its own, and these sections were the worst victims of cut money culture and 'Tolabaji' (extortion) by the state's ruling party," he alleged.

Modi scoffed at Banerjee's "Khela Hobe" battle cry.

"Didi says khela hobe, BJP says jobs will happen; Didi says khela hobe, BJP says development will happen; Didi says khela hobe, BJP says education will happen; Didi says khela hobe, BJP says empowerment of women will happen. BJP says you will get pucca houses and clean piped water connection," Modi said, in a bid to reach out to the people of the parched region.

"The TMC has created a new breed of Maoists in Bengal who loot public money. The money meant for poor people. Didi's government has patronised Maoist violence," he alleged.

Accusing Mamata Banerjee of presiding over a corrupt administration, the prime minister also alleged that even relief sent by the Centre to the state during the -induced lockdown got swindled.

Referring to a slew of central schemes like Ayushman Bharat, which the TMC government is yet to implement, Modi said, "We believe in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) while TMC believes in Transfer My Commission."

भाजपा की केंद्र सरकार की नीति है- DBT- यानि डायरेक्ट बेनिफिट ट्रांसफर।

पश्चिम बंगाल में दीदी सरकार की दुर्नीति है- TMC- यानि ट्रांसफर माय कमीशन! pic.twitter.com/yEwUfhVI8n

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 18, 2021

The prime minister also alleged that no work gets done without cut money and commission.

"Cut money, tolabaji (extortion) have hurt the poor and the Adivasis the most. We sent cheap rice for the poor. TMC's tolabaj did not even spare that. We gave free rice during the lockdown but TMC indulged in corruption," he said.

"The TMC government has given Purulia only water crisis, forced migration and administration that discriminates," he alleged and promised rapid industrialisation of the region once the BJP formed its government in West Bengal to check migration in search of livelihood.

The tribal Purulia district will go to poll in the first phase on 27 March. The TMC had bagged seven of the nine assembly segments in 2016. A resurgent BJP had won the lone Lok Sabha seat in 2019.

PM to visit Bangladesh amid Bengal polls

According to reports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will go to Bangladesh on a two-day visit on 26 March to observe the birth centenary of the country’s first Prime Minister Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and the golden jubilee of Bangladesh’s independence. This is his first foreign trip since the outbreak of the pandemic. The prime minister will also offer prayers at Orakandhi’s Matua temple, which is sacred to the Matua community of West Bengal.

The visit is reportedly seen as an effort to woo the Matua electorate, who could be a deciding factor in at least 35 seats in the north and south Bengal. As per New Indian Express, due to the Matuas' support, the BJP had bagged 18 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP had promised the followers of the sect, who had migrated from Bangladesh after the Partition, that they would be given citizenship by implementing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

Matuas are a scheduled caste group spread across the districts of North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia and smaller parts of Jalpaiguri, Siliguri, Cooch Behar and Bardhaman, reports The Indian Express.

Mamata Banerjee attacks BJP

Admitting that the relief doled out after Cyclone Amphan by her government might have missed out "one or two" beneficiaries, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said BJP leaders were nowhere to be seen during the crisis.

Addressing a rally here in Paschim Medinipur, the TMC supremo claimed that BJP leaders "arrive here in choppers and planes from outside with bagful of cash to lure voters and loot votes" just ahead of elections.

"Thousands of crores of rupees were doled out by the TMC government for the cyclone-affected. There could have been one or two exceptions... But we rushed to be on the side of people. Where were BJP leaders then? At the time of human miseries, they are always absent," she said.

Asserting that the TMC will never allow the NPR exercise in West Bengal, Banerjee alleged, "The BJP will omit names of voters if they are not found at home during the visit of enumerators. They will just evict you (people). But we would not allow them to update the register here.

"Not a single member of any family, no citizen of the country can be evicted from Bengal," she stated.

The National Population Register (NPR) is a document containing names of the country's "usual residents".

Branding the BJP as "a party of rioters", she said, "We don't want violence, we don't want bloodshed, and we don't want the politics of retaliation to enter Bengal."

‘We will bring change in Delhi, once we win in Bengal,’ says Mamata

Banerjee also asserted that she will bring 'parivartan' (change) in Delhi after winning the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal. The chief minister said that the BJP is targeting West Bengal with all its might as it knows that she will go for the Centre soon after securing victory in her state.

She accused the BJP of "stealing" her 'parivartan' slogan and remodelling it as 'asol parivartan' (real change).

"The BJP is afraid that if we win in West Bengal, then we will bring an alternative in Delhi and that is why they are targeting the state with all force," she said while addressing a public meeting in Kalaikunda in Paschim Medinipur district in support of TMC candidates contesting the seats going to polls in the first phase on 27 March.

'Poribortan'(change) is Mamata Banerjee's slogan; why are you copying Mamata Banerjee?... After winning Bengal, we will jump to Delhi & shake BJP: West Bengal CM & TMC leader Mamata Banerjee in Kharagpur pic.twitter.com/BlaUmCLGP9

— ANI (@ANI) March 18, 2021

Alleging that the BJP will try to rig the Assembly elections, Banerjee asked TMC workers to remain vigilant during and after the eight-phase elections till the counting of votes on 2 May.

"I have respect for the police, they do not do such things, but there are instructions from the BJP to take hold of the EVM machines," she said.

Maintaining that the once-Maoist stronghold of the Jangalmahal region is now peaceful, Banerjee said her government has done everything for the development of the region spread over Paschim Medinipur, Jhargram, Bankura and Purulia districts.

The TMC had won most of the Assembly seats in the Jangalmahal region in the 2016 elections, but the BJP emerged victorious in all the five Lok Sabha seats in the region in the 2019 polls.

Alleging that the CPI(M) and Congress are hand-in-glove with the BJP, she urged the people not to vote for the candidates of these parties.

Without naming Medinipur MP and state BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, Banerjee said, "The BJP is a party of lies. It does not keep its word. The saffron party's parliamentarian from here has not done anything for the people."

She also promised a new port at Digha and ancillary industries in the railway town of Kharagpur and other parts of Purba and Paschim Medinipur districts.

Accusing the BJP-led government at the Centre of trying to "sell off the Railways", the former railway minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee cabinet urged the railway employees of Kharagpur not to vote for the saffron party.

Claiming that her government has brought down unemployment in West Bengal by 40 percent, she said the MSME sector will receive an investment of Rs 5 lakh crore, which will create a large number of jobs.

She also promised to accord OBC status to some castes following requisite inquiry.

The chief minister also promised Rs 10 lakh education loan to students at only 4 percent interest for pursuing higher studies.

Reminding the community clubs that she gives Rs 50,000 to each of these for celebrating Durga Puja, she asked them not to get swayed by the BJP's allurements.

"Have you got Rs 15 lakh that Narendra Modi had promised?" she asked, claiming that he has reneged on his promise after becoming the prime minister.

Claiming that she had wanted to give vaccines for free to the people of West Bengal, Banerjee said that the Centre has not responded to her proposal.

The chief minister said that cases are on the rise in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, but her government is working to keep the disease under control in the state.

The daily spike in cases in West Bengal is on the rise, with the state reporting over 300 cases after several weeks on Wednesday.

Alleging that the BJP is trying to take control of Kolkata Coffee House, she said that "saffron goons" recently created ruckus there as they don't know the establishment's heritage, which is an integral part of the city's culture.

TMC, BJYM clash in Nandigram

Clashes broke out between supporters of the TMC and the BJP on Thursday during Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan's rally in Purba Medinipur, leaving at least two people injured, PTI reported.

While Pradhan claimed that five to six TMC men attacked BJYM workers who had taken out a rally in the Sonachura area of Nandigram, minutes after the party's candidate from Nandigram, Suvendu Adhikari, passed by the area.

Denying the charge, local TMC leaders said the saffron camp members attacked the workers of the state's ruling camp, and not the other way round.

Adhikari is pitted opposite Banerjee in the constituency.

BJP names 148 candidates for last four phases

The saffron party on Thursday announced its list of 148 candidates for the last four phases of the assembly election in West Bengal, rewarding around 20 turncoats and fielding party heavyweights Mukul Roy and Rahul Sinha.

The party is facing protests and resignations as many of its aspiring old-timers did not find their names in the list of candidates.

Roy' son Subranghshu, a sitting TMC MLA, state BJP Mahila Morcha president Agnimitra Paul, film personalities Rudranil Ghosh, Srabanti Chattopadhyay and Parno Mitra were among those given tickets by the saffron party. Roy, BJP national vice-president and former union minister is back in the electoral fray as a candidate from Krishnanagar Uttar seat after a gap of two decades.

At least 20 turncoats who were named in the final list, including former TMC MLAs like Arindam Bhattacharya (Jagatdal) and Jitendra Tiwari (Pandaveswar).

The list also has 19 women candidates.

BJP state Yuva Morcha leader Sourav Sikdar, the nephew of former BJP leader Tapan Sikdar, resigned from all party posts after he was denied a ticket. He accused the present party leadership of humiliating old-timers.

With inputs from PTI