Kolkata: The West Bengal Assembly elections this time will not be just a “vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)” but a “vote against illegal infiltration, corruption and crime against women”, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Wednesday.
“On April 29, when you will be going for polls in the second phase of Assembly polls, you will be pressing the electronic voting machine buttons; it will not be just to vote for the BJP or to just elect the BJP candidates. Rather, the vote this time will be the vote against illegal infiltration, corruption, and crime against women,” the Union Home Minister said while addressing a campaign rally for Dum Dum (Uttar) Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district.
Incidentally, this is the first time in his campaign schedule in the state that HM Shah attacked Congress and the Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi.
“Because of the association of Rahul Gandhi, the Congress’ national president, Mallikarjun Kharge, too, has started making irrelevant statements. But I want to tell Rahul Gandhi that in Assam, Congress will witness its worst-ever results. Maybe Congress will open its account in West Bengal, but in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, Congress will not cross the double figure,” the Union Home Minister said.
Speaking on the occasion, HM Shah also said that Trinamool Congress had deliberately converted the West Bengal capital of Kolkata into a “city of slums” to give shelter to the illegal infiltrators there.
“The women in different pockets in West Bengal, like in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas, are being harassed by the illegal infiltrators. But despite being a woman chief minister, Mamata Banerjee has remained silent. This is because many of these illegal infiltrators are Trinamool Congress leaders today,” Shah said.
He said that if the BJP comes to power in West Bengal, one of the top priorities of the new state government will be economic revival through industrial rejuvenation.
“West Bengal was once the industrial hub of the country. But now, the industrial units in West Bengal are closing down one after another and getting shifted to other states. A total of 6,000 industrial units in West Bengal have either closed down or shifted to other states during the last 15 years of the Trinamool Congress in the state. This is because of rampant extortion rackets run by the ruling Trinamool Congress leaders,” the Union Home Minister said.
(IANS)
