Kotulpur:
In a major outreach to the Hindu backward communities of the state, BJP national President Jagat Prakash Nadda Tuesday promised to include all the ‘left out’ Hindu castes in the OBC list if voted to power in West Bengal.
Mocking Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Nadda said that after practising politics of appeasement for years, the TMC supremo has started reciting Sanskrit slokas to assert her Hindu identity.
She had left several Hindu OBC castes like Mahishya and Teli out of the reserved category because of her ”politics of appeasement”, he told a poll rally at Kotulpur in backward Bankura district.
”Mamata Ji is indulging in the politics of appeasement to retain her chair in Bengal. It is unfortunate that because of it, people of many left out Hindu castes like ‘Mahisya’ and ‘Teli’ have been deprived of OBC status in Bengal. This is an injustice towards them.
”We will form a committee and as per the Mandal Commission’s recommendations on who are eligible, we will take steps for their inclusion and bring them to the mainstream,” he said while reaching out to the politically crucial Hindu backward communities in Bankura district.
The ”Teli” and ”Mahisya” are among Hindu backward castes and have a strong presence in the state’s Bankura and Purulia districts.
The state BJP leadership have repeatedly alleged that 99 per cent of the Muslim population have benefited from OBC reservation in the state as they were categorised under backward caste during the TMC regime. This had deprived several backward Hindu castes of benefits of OBC reservation.
Banerjee had won elections in the name of ‘Ma, Mati, Manush’ (Mother, Land and People) but her party has engaged itself in ”dictatorship, extortion, politics of appeasement, torturing women and killing BJP workers during the last decade”, Nadda said.
”I am told that Mamata Banerjee is now doing Chandi Path. But in the last 10 years, you (Banerjee) have been engaged in minority appeasement. You have stopped Saraswati Puja in the state and immersion of idols of goddess Durga,” he said.
Banerjee did Chandi Path (recitation of hymns for Goddess Chandi) at Nandigram, from where she is contesting, at a public meeting on March 9.
”During the stone laying ceremony of the Ram Mandir at Ayodhya, you (Banerjee) had stopped people from offering puja in the state,” the BJP president said.
Referring to the court verdict in the Batla House encounter case, Nadda said that the TMC supremo had claimed in 2008 that it was fake and that she will quit politics if proved wrong.
”The court yesterday gave a verdict in the case. What will she say now?” he asked.
A Delhi court Monday awarded death penalty to convict Ariz Khan for the murder of decorated Delhi Police Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma in connection with the sensational Batla House encounter of 2008.
Calling for defeating TMC in the coming state election for its ”misrule and misgovernance”, Nadda said the TMC government’s days are numbered.
”TMC’s politics of polarisation, autocracy, corruption and cut-money has bred corruption. Mamata Ji, the people of Bengal will not forgive you and will defeat you in the polls.” he said.
Promising to restore the ”lost pride of Bengal” if voted to power in the state, Nadda said Trinamool Congress has to be sent for ”aaram” (relaxation) and the saffron party should be given the ”kaam (work)” of running the government.
Bankura district in the western part of the state has a significant tribal population, which is crucial for the success of any party in the poll battle.
