West Bengal Election: 'TMC banks on illegal immigrants' votes,' claims Amit Shah on Mamata's outsider barb

Launching a scathing attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her outsider barb against him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday alleged that the Trinamool Congress banks on the votes of illegal immigrants.

He said not only the TMC but even the Left depends on an "imported ideology" (communism) from Russia and China and the Congress is run by leadership from  Italy.

"Am I an outsider? Am I not a citizen of this country? Didi also calls the prime minister an outsider. Let me tell you Didi who are outsiders. You have very little knowledge. "The communists have imported their ideology from China and Russia. The Congress's leadership is from outside -- Italy. And the TMC's vote bank is illegal immigrants. I was born in this country and will turn into ashes in this land. How can I be an outsider?" Shah told an election rally in Nagrakata town in Jalpaiguri district.

Banerjee has been terming the BJP leadership as "outsider" in West Bengal and accusing the saffron party of bringing in goons from other states during the ongoing
assembly elections. "Mamata can't deceive the people of this state for long and the BJP's CM will be a son of the soil," he said.

Observing that Banerjee, who has demanded his resignation over the Cooch Behar killings, will instead have to put in her papers on May 2, Shah said, "This election is not about my resignation, but of yours (Banerjee's)."

Four persons were killed in CISF firing in Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar district during the fourth phase of polling on 10 April. He alleged that while the chief minister has not increased the wages of the tea garden workers, she has been regularly "abusing" Modi as "son of a tea seller".

He promised to give citizenship to all refugees, which he alleged that Banerjee has failed to do to "appease her vote bank of illegal immigrants".

Shah said that an AIIMS will be established in north Bengal if the BJP comes to power in the state. "Modiji has come up with 115 schemes for West Bengal,
while Didi has given 115 scams to the state," he said. He said that the Left, Congress or TMC cannot stop illegal immigration as "they see their vote bank in them".
"West Bengal has become unsafe. The day is not far when Kolkata will also face the problems of illegal immigration," he said at another rally in Bidhannagar seat
near the metropolis.

In his first rally of the day at Darjeeling, Shah assured that the double-engine BJP government will bring a political solution to the long-drawn "Gorkha problem" in the Hills. "I promise that a permanent political solution to the Gorkha problem will be reached by the double-engine government of the BJP. You will not have to resort to agitations anymore," he said.

The Union minister, however, did not specify which problem he was referring to. Gorkhas have long been demanding a separate state, and several movements have been launched by the community over the years, the latest being in 2017.

Contending that Gorkhas are the pride of India, Shah said that no one can cause them any harm. "There is no plan to implement National Register of Citizens (NRC) for now. Even if the exercise is carried out, Gorkhas need not worry about it," he asserted.

Shah alleged that Banerjee has "put a full stop" to the development work in Darjeeling.

Banerjee has not yet held any campaign for the three assembly seats in the Hills, set to go to polls on 17 April.