Amit Shah starts his mission in Mamta Didi’s land, The battle lines are drawn
kolkata/ New Delhi siyasat.net
Bihar assembly elections were not even over when Union Home Minister Amit Shah landed in West Bengal where elections are about six months away. Shah could not go for campaigning in Bihar as he was recuperating from the after-effects of Covid-19, saving his energy for Bengal which is a must-win state for the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Chanakya, as Shah is called, was scathing in his comments on the law and order situation in the state where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been repeatedly accused of being dictatorial and appeasing minorities
Launching a blistering attack on Mamata Banerjee, Shah said he could “sense massive public anger” against the Trinamool Congress government the days of which were now numbered. Although the election process is yet to begin in the state, Shah predicted a two-third majority in the 295-member House in which it won only three seats in 2016 but increased the tally to 15 after by-election victories. The optimism is based on the 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats the party won in the 2019 general elections.
That the BJP will go all out to wangle the state from Didi. Governor Jagdeep Dhankar has done enough groundwork for Shah who held meetings to strategise for Mission Bengal’s success. It is worth recalling Shah telling a TV news channel that the demand for imposing President’s rule in the state was “wajib” (justified). His comments followed BJP leaders Kailash Vijayvargiya and Babul Supriyo demanding dismissal of the Mamata government. One BJP leader from the state went to the extent of claiming that West Bengal will come under Central rule by December.
Home Minister Amit Shah is on a two-day visit to West Bengal ahead of 2021. Speaking at Bankura, Amit Shah sounded the poll bugle and declared that the party would work towards getting 200 out of 294 Assembly seats in West Bengal.
Mr.Amit Shah, after making several rounds to the hospital while getting infected by corona and defeating it in due course, is now hail and hearty and back to business with a bang making first visit to next year’s fierce street battle of Bengal. Shah, who is on a two day visit to the State, had set a target of winning on 200 assembly seats. The importance of the visit can also be gauged from the fact that Shah chose to visit Bengal and not Bihar, which is currently voting for the next government.
Shah said that the death knell of the Trinamool Congress government had been sounded. Shah alleged that the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal had started an unprecedented oppression on BJP workers. “With the kind of the cycle of oppression that has been unleashed particularly on the BJP workers by the Mamata Banerjee government, I can say with certainty that the death knell for it has been sounded. In the times to come, the BJP will form the government here with a two-thirds majority,” he told journalists in Bankura. Shah started his visit to Bankura by garlanding a statue of Birsa Munda. He said that the benefits of Central schemes were not reaching the State people, including the Adivasi population. There was a key strategic reason behind Amit Shah’s decision to visit Bankura – a region that has been a victim of backwardness in the state besides being a Maoist-infested area. Another reason is that Bankura has a BJP MP whereas Midnapore, which was initially chosen for the visit, does not.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took exception to remarks made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to uproot her government. “I also know Hindi. If I say the same words… uproot and throw away, will you feel good,” she asked. While the Chief Minister did not refer to Shah, her remarks were clearly aimed at the Minister, who said earlier in the day “death knell of the Mamata Banerjee government has been sounded”. Banerjee urged Shah to maintain dignity in political discourse. She said that nobody should cross the ‘Lakshman rekha’. There were concerted attempts to defame West Bengal. “West Bengal has a special sense of pride. If some outsiders come and target our sense of pride, we will not accept it.” Targeting the BJP, she stated that in the name of protests, one particular party had regularly violated the laws related to the COVID-19 pandemic and had spread the infection.
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