Modi sharpens attack on Didi, nephew’s ‘brutality, extortion’

KHARAGPUR: PM Narendra Modi on Saturday added a fresh set of unflattering phrases to his poll lexicon against Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and her nephew, Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, urging voters to put an end to their “school of brutality” that follows “a syllabus of tolabaazi (extortion), syndicate raj and anarchy”.
With 19 of BJP’s candidates from the southwestern constituencies in attendance, the PM said at a rally in Kharagpur that “Bengal’s mafia udyog” and “the prevalent bhaipo(nephew) single-window system” needed eradication. “There will not be bhoy (fear) this time; there will be joy (victory),” he said, exhorting voters to vote without fear and the administration and cops to work without bias.
BJP had won the Kharagpur Town seat in 2016, but Trinamool wrested it in the subsequent bypoll in 2019. “Didi has betrayed the poor, the adivasis and the backward classes and turned her government into a ‘lootmar’ government. Adivasis and those living off the forest have to give cut money to even sell kendu leaves,” he said.
“The nation is progressing towards a single-window system, but here in Bengal only the bhaipo single-window system works. Nothing can happen without passing through this window. Existing industries are shut because of TMC syndicates.”
Alluding to Friday’s social media snag, the PM said, “WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram applications were down yesterday for 50-55 minutes. People did not know what to do. Here in Bengal, vikas, biswas and sapna (development, trust and dreams) have been down for 50-55 years.”