Canning/Kolkata:
The slugfest between BJP and Trinamool Congress in West Bengal turned acrimonius Monday ahead of the ultimate phase of Lok Sabha polls over BJP president Amit Shah’s “Kangal Bangla” remark and TMC leader Derek O’Brien hitting back calling him “puke-worthy” and a “low-life”.
Shah had been denied permission to land his chopper and hold a meeting at Baruipur under Jadavpur constituency during the day forcing him to call off his programme.
“TMC can stop me from attending rallies but can’t stop the victory march of BJP in Bengal …. The Mamata Banerjee government is visibly perplexed. She wants to stop me from attending rallies. Can you (Banerjee) prevent your defeat this way?,” he claimed at a rally at Canning under Joynagar Lok Sabha constituency and dared Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to arrest him for chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
Throwing a challenge at the fiesty TMC supremo, who is among the most strident critics of BJP, Shah said “Mamata didi gets angry if someone chants ‘Jai Shri Ram’. I am chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’ here today, if you (Mamata) have the guts, arrest me. I will be in Kolkata tomorrow.”
He followed it up with “We will restore the glory of Bengal. Mamata Banerjee has turned Sonar (golden) Bangla into Kangal (pauper) Bangla.
“She is only interested in protecting infiltrators to secure her vote bank. But her vote bank won’t be able to save her from imminent defeat,” he asserted.
Shah referred to infiltrators as “termites” who are eating into the resources of the country and said BJP will throw them out from Bengal after coming to power at the Centre for a second term.
Lashing out against Shah in the most virulent terms for his “Kangal Bangla” comment, TMC leader and Rajya Sabha member Derek O’ Brien called him “puke-worthy” and a “low- life” who has “insulted” the state.
O’Brien said in a tweet “That puke-worthy Shah had the audacity to use the term ????? ????? Kangal Bangla today at a rally. The people of Bengal will give him and Modi a fitting reply in Phase 7. That #LowLife insults Bengal.”
“Puke-worthy Shah is ignoramus about Bengal. Knows nothing about the State. Doesnt even care enough to find out where Rabindranath Thakur was born. And yet comes to beg for votes,” Brien said.
O’ Brien also said that Shah and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will get a befitting reply from the people of the state.
Shah said at the meeting that BJP would implement the contentious National Register of Citizens across the country after winning the elections and charged that Banerjee, who is vehemently opposed to the NRC, is misleading people over it.
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) aims to separate genuine citizens from illegal immigrants.
Attacking the opposition parties who are against the BJP, Shah said while Modi has been working for the development of the country they are working to secure the future of their families.
“The opposition leaders are trying to secure the future of their relatives – be it brother, husband, son, son- in-law or nephew …. We have to throw out this corrupt government of Bua-Bhatija (Aunt and Nephew – Banerjee and her nephew). We will defeat this corrupt regime,” he stated.
He reiterated the “syndicate raj” charge against the TMC in the state and alleged that the party works to benefit the Banerjee’s nephew, Abhishek Banerjee. “Earlier it was syndicate tax, now it has been replaced by nephew tax.”
Keeping up his attack, Shah said that Banerjee, along with other opposition leaders, are keen on holding talks with Pakistan, even after the Pulwama attack in Kashmir.
“If you are interested in holding a dialogue with Pakistan, you can go ahead. We will respond to their bullets with cannon balls,” Shah said.
He accused Banerjee of trying to hinder Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja celebrations in the state, stating that the CM was trying use religion as a political tool.
“If Bengalis do not conduct Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja here, will they conduct it in Pakistan? The people of Bengal will give a befitting reply to Mamata Banerjee in this election,” he said.
The state, which was once known for Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s songs, has become a hub of illegal “bomb and gun making factories”, Shah claimed.
“Under the TMC rule all three — mother, motherland and people are suffering,” he said, referring to the ‘Ma, Maati and Manush’ slogan of West Bengal’s ruling party.
BJP has emerged the closest contestant of the ruling TMC in the state, where polling will be held in nine parliamentary constituencies in the seventh and last phase of election on May 19.
