TMC leased Bengal out to infiltrators & criminals: Modi

KOLKATA/RAIGANJ: PM Narendra Modi on Tuesday alleged that Trinamool Congress had leased Bengal out to infiltrators and criminals while leaving dalits and the tribal community uncared for. Addressing two back-to-back rallies in Balurghat and Raiganj, Modi said that TMC would this time be punished for its “sins”.

“TMC has leased Bengal out to infiltrators and criminals. Corruption has become the party’s full-time profession. Goons have a free run of govt offices. They took money for recruiting primary teachers and attacked the agencies who investigated that,” Modi said at Balurghat.

At Raiganj, he quoted from the poem ‘Chor Dhora’ by Sukumar Ray: “Are Chhi Chhi Ram Ram/ Bolo Na He Bolo Na/Cholchhe Ja Juachuri/Nahi Tar Tulona (Shame, Shame! The corruption is unprecedented).”

With SC and ST communities making up almost half the population of the two constituencies, the PM referred to an incident in Balurghat last year where women were forced to do “dandavat parikrama” for joining BJP. “Trinamool thinks that adivasis and dalits cannot have their own free will and treats them as pawns. Three women, who had joined BJP, were made to prostrate by TMC goons,” he said.

“This election will be a witness to the fact that adivasis and dalits in Bengal are not TMC’s slaves. Trinamool, which forced the women to crawl, will soon be brought to its knees,” Modi said.

Addressing the gathering at Raiganj, Modi claimed Trinamool allowed infiltration while opposing Centre’s efforts to give citizenship to those fleeing religious persecution. “They have given permission to the Bangladeshis and Rohingyas to destroy the demography of the state. They allowed illegal infiltrators and stopped us from giving citizenship to those who took shelter here. TMC is using lies and fake propaganda to oppose the CAA,” said Modi.

“Our mothers and sisters are not safe under Mamata didi’s government. The Sandeshkhali episode has shown us that TMC workers treat women as their slaves,” he added, alleging that organisations who wanted to meet the women were denied permission. Modi also claimed that Trinamool did not care about development. “They are afraid of seeing women and poor walk up the ladder of progress. The moment Modi’s ‘guarantee card’ was in place, TMC got doubly perturbed,” he said.

“Balurghat has a high percentage of adivasis and dalits. TMC did not allow development work here intentionally. They did not even allow the setting up of good hospitals. They either stop the projects, or paste their stickers on them,” Modi said.

The PM also claimed UPA govt had been selective in choosing development projects. “When I was Gujarat CM, Congress govt had a stepmotherly attitude towards non-Congress states. The situation is the opposite today. We are working for development of the eastern states and Bengal,” he said.