PM ramps up attack on TMC

Upping the ante against the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in poll-bound West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday alleged the party supported the tukde-tukde  gang, which had threatened to snap the strategic Siliguri Corridor to cut off the Northeast from the rest of the country.

“The country has a tukde-tukde  gang, and it threatened to cut off the Siliguri Corridor. They wanted to separate the Northeast from the country. The TMC, which indulges in appeasement politics, supports such people from the streets to Parliament. That is the real face of TMC,” he alleged, addressing his eighth rally in the State since Assembly polls were declared.

Terming it “the nation’s corridor of defence as well as prosperity”, Modi said the Centre was working round the clock to strengthen and develop the region on a massive scale, citing the under-construction Sevoke-Rangpo railway line, connecting Sikkim with Siliguri. “The project will strengthen trade and tourism in the region, directly benefiting the youth of Darjeeling,” he said.

The PM was campaigning for BJP candidates in Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts, where polling will be held in the first phase on April 23. The second phase of polling is on April 29, and the votes will be counted on May 4.

Addressing an election rally at the Kawakhali ground in the northern West Bengal city of Siliguri, he described the TMC as an “anti-tribal, anti-women and anti-youth party”. Its appeasement politics have caused untold misery to the state, the PM alleged.

On the TMC’s “appeasement politics”, the PM alleged that while the Mamata Banerjee government has earmarked Rs 6,000 crore in the state budget for the development of Madrassas, the fund allotted for the entire north Bengal region is “nowhere sufficient”.

“The people of Bengal are now seeking answers from the TMC for every moment it spent in power over the last 15 years,” Modi said, asserting that when the BJP comes to power, it will make the Mamata Banerjee-led party “pay for its misdeeds”.

Urging people to vote for a ‘double-engine’ government, Modi said Bengal will witness development at double the speed once the BJP assumes power in the state.

While stating that Bengal has already given the Congress, the Left and the TMC chances to rule the state, Modi urged the people to give the BJP an opportunity to “revive its development trajectory”.

“Give Modi a chance to ensure the security of the daughters, to save Bengal from infiltrators and to provide jobs to youth within the state. Give Modi a chance to resurrect investment, establish the rule of law, to ensure free healthcare and homes for the poor, to elevate the state from a rule of fear to a climate of trust and rescue Bengal’s culture from the TMC’s appeasement politics,” the PM said.

Modi said the energy he had been witnessing among the people of Bengal has convinced him that the TMC’s defeat is certain in the upcoming elections.