KOLKATA: Launching a scathing attack on West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) for “turning a blind eye” to the cases of sexual abuse of women at Sandeshkhali, PM Narendra Modi on Friday appealed to people to avenge the excesses by voting against the TMC in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“Har chot ki jawab vote mein hona chahiye,” the PM said, while addressing a rally at Arambag in Hoogly district of West Bengal. “The entire country is deeply upset after seeing what the TMC has done to the sisters of Sandeshkhali,” he said.
Referring to Khanakul, the ancestral village of 19th century social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy, which was close to the venue of the public meeting, he said, “Even the soul of Raja Ram Mohan Roy would be pained by the happenings at Sandeshkhali.” PM Modi said while the TMC beat the drum of “maa, maati and maanush”, what it did in reality was very different. He also slammed the INDIA bloc for keeping silent on the Sandeshkhali atrocities.
He accused Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge of insulting the people of Bengal by saying “such incidents do happen in Bengal”. “For INDIA bloc leaders, supporting the corrupt and appeasement politics are of prime importance rather than stand by those tortured in Sandeshkhali.
The TMC is confident that it has the support of the minorities, but the Muslim sisters and mothers too will vote against it,” he said. The PM, who is on a two-day visit to West Bengal to kick off BJP’s poll campaign, also raked up the issue of corruption and reminded the crowd about the visuals of wads of bank notes recovered by central agencies from the residences of TMC leaders during raids. “The Lok Sabha elections will mark the beginning of the countdown of the TMC’s exit from power in Bengal,” he said.
PM Modi also accused the state government of ignoring execution of projects for which funds had been already released by the Centre. “The government is sending funds to Bengal, but the TMC government is not utilising these and instead creating blockades,” he claimed.
The PM dedicated to the nation and laid the foundation stone for multiple development projects worth Rs 7,200 crore at an event at Arambagh. The projects are associated with railways, ports, oil pipeline, LPG supply and wastewater treatment.
Earlier in the day kicking off BJP’s campaign in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, PM Modi said the JMM and Congress were both concerned only about the welfare of the family members of their top leaders. In contrast, the BJP government headed by him worked for the whole country, he said.
Without naming the incarcerated former CM Hemant Soren, the PM said the JMM and Congress leaders had amassed huge properties by means of corruption. “Don’t you think corrupt people should spend their lives in jail. Whatever has been taken away by them from people will have to be returned. This is Modi’s guarantee,” the PM said. PM Modi inaugurated a fertiliser manufacturing unit at Sindri.