BJP national president JP Nadda and Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday made similar refrains to express their disapproval of the powers that be in Bengal but at different forums.
While Nadda re-appeared at a saffron rally in Bengal’s rice bowl, Burdwan holding a triumphant road show a la the one held by Amit Shah at Bolpour, the Governor met the Home Minister in New Delhi reportedly asking him to save the State from a politicised bureaucracy and criminalised political society by ensuring a blemish-free elections.
Picking up from where Shah left at Bolpur-Shantiniketan last month Nadda --- who returned a month after his convoy was attacked by alleged Trinamool Congress goons at Diamond Harbour --- launched a scathing attack on the Mamata Banerjee Government saying how scams, nepotism and criminalization of politics had made the ruling Trinamool Congress so unpopular that people had decided to reject her this time round. Bengal goes to polls in a few months from now in which the BJP will win by a thumping majority, he said.
“There is no stopping of the lotus from blooming in Bengal because the people have made up their minds to reject Mamata Banerjee because you have tortured them too much,” Nadda said adding “those who want a change are not politicians but the common people of the State … Time has come when there will be a Parivartan of Parivartan (change of the change --- that Mamata Banerjee brought by defeating the Left Front in 2011).
“Our party will win more than 200 seats this time,” he told the overflowing audience of Burdwan which had traditionally been a Left bastion before being taken away by the TMC.
Attacking the Government for failing in every front and making “the life of the people a hell” Nadda said Bengal which was earlier known for its cultural excellence, philosophy, nationalism … “today tops the list of human and animal trafficking. The farmers here do not get the price for their crops and crime against women is on the rise.”
And when voices are raised against the rampant criminalization of politics, maladministration and corruption those voices are silenced, he said reminding how “hundreds of BJP workers have been murdered by the Trinamool goons.”
The huge rally had the entire stretch of the Grand Trunk Toad blocked from Clock Tower to Curzon Gate from where the rally started and ended.
Attacking the TMC for brutally suppressing opposition voice Nadda said “our workers are being murdered, every voice of dissent is gagged … but the TMC should remember that the more you suppress the BJP the more it’s the will expand its base in Bengal … no amount of torture will stop the BJP from moving forward.”
Earlier Nadda went to nearby temple town of Katwa and also visited local farmers launching the party programme called “Ek Muthi Chaal (a fistful of rice) in an apparent aim to blunt the opposition’s anti-farmer allegation against his party.
After taking lunch at a farmer’s residence he said responding to a question on why the central government was failing to address the farmer’s movement in Delhi that “our Government is approaching the issue with an open and positive mind … the talks are on with the farmers and I hope a solution will soon be arrived at.”
Referring to the Ek Muthi Chaal programme he said that it would entail collecting a fistful of rice from the houses of thousands of farmers.
“This will unite the farmers against the anti-farmer policy of the State Government,” he said adding the rice thus collected will then be cooked in a common place and would be shared by the people.
His address at “Krishok Surokkha Gram Sabha” (farmers' security meeting at village) in Jagadanandpur marked the beginning of 40,000 such meetings throughout the State. There are 71.23 lakh farmer families in the State, 96 per cent of them small and marginal.
Back in New Delhi the Governor too spoke in similar tone making a demand for holding a violence-free elections.
“There was extreme violence during the 2018 panchayat elections and the 2019 general elections, which is not desirable for a State which was once known for its cultural supremacy and political awareness … there must not be any violence in the 2021 elections,” he said refusing however to dwell on what transpired between him and the Home Minister.
Disapproving of the way the police administration had been politicized in Bengal the Governor said “the police must be de-politicised and they must serve the people … I had already warned the DGP about this.”
Saying that confidence must be instilled among the common voters so that they can come out to vote, the Governor earlier said that if need be central forces should be brought in early and in greater numbers for area domination.