Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday invoked Hindutva in Bengal alleging how during the Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress raj the condition of the Hindus had dwindled to that of second class citizens “all for the sake of pursuing its appeasement politics.”

The immediate reference of the Prime Minister was an alleged remark by a former Bengal Minister and TMC MLA from Murshidabad Humayun Kabir who had a couple of days ago threatened to throw all the BJP supporters into Bhagirathi River (Ganges) in a couple of hours.

“The question to be asked is why the Hindus in Bengal have become second class citizens,” the Prime Minister asked in election rallies at Burdwan-Durgapur and Krishnagar where he was campaigning for BJP candidates Dilip Ghosh and Amrita Roy respectively.

Questioning the kind of politics that the TMC was playing in Bengal where its MLAs were free to utter certain objectionable words Modi asked, “what kind of politics is this” where a politician would threaten to throw BJP workers in a river. “Is this a part of appeasement politics being pursued by the TMC that the Hindus have been reduced to the level of second class citizens in Bengal?” he asked.

Sandeshkhali too figured in his vehement attack on the Mamata Banerjee Government for its appeasement politics so to say. “It is because of the appeasement politics that the State Government willfully left out the main perpetrator of the Sandeshkhali case” where the women were dis-honoured and their lands were grabbed right under the nose of the police administration, he said. “They did not touch Sheikh Shahjahan the main accused in Sandeshkhali case … the entire country watched in shame as the TMC continued to guard the main culprit,” he said wondering whether it was the part of Mamata Banerjee’s appeasement politics.

Out of the two rallies Krishnagar constituency has more about 42 percent minority votes. The constituency is presently held by TMC’s Mohua Moitra who was early this year expelled from parliament for her alleged involvement in the cash-for-query case. She is pitted against the BJP’s Amrita Roy a scion of the local royal family and CPI(M)’s Md Shadi.

At Burdwan-Durgapur Modi campaigned for former State party president and national vice president Dilip Ghosh who won the Midnapore parliamentary seat in 2019. Ghosh is contesting against TMC’s Kirti Azad a former BJP leader and a national cricket.

Referring to the recruitment scam that has seen about 26,000 teachers and non-teaching staff losing their jobs --- post a Calcutta High Court order --- on grounds of large-scale corruption in appointment, the Prime Minister said his party had a moral support for the losers of jobs who had secured them honestly.