Amit Shah addresses party leaders, workers

Kolkata: "Tooth for a tooth and eye for an eye" was BJP president Amit Shah's message to his party leaders and workers.

Shah, who came to the city on Sunday night, started meeting party district presidents and secretaries on Monday.

It was learnt that Shah told party activists that he had not come to Bengal to listen to their complaints that they have been beaten up by Trinamool Congress at various places and other grievances. "We must give our attackers befitting replies," he said. He told party leaders that BJP will reach its "political zenith by forming government in Bengal."

"We must come to power in Bengal and that will be reaching to the peak for BJP." He held several rounds of talks with the leaders and explained to them the roadmap for 2019 Lok Sabha election. Though Shah did not hold any formal press conference, Dilip Ghosh, state president who attended the meetings of Shah with the district presidents and secretaries said: "Amitji had spoken in the language which we had looked for. His words have inspired our leaders."

Shah will meet editors of some newspapers on Tuesday and industrialists on Wednesday. BJP has invited some editors to meet Shah over tea.

Reacting to Shah's instruction to his party colleagues, Partha Chatterjee, Trinamool Congress secretary general said: "The people of Bengal and Trinamool Congress leaders and workers will not get provoked by Shah's speeches. Bengal is a different ball game and coming to the state once and twice in a year to flex muscles will not bring any good to BJP."

Earlier, Shah went to Swami Vivekananda's ancestral house and paid homage to the monk who had addressed the World's Parliament of Religions at Chicago on this date in 1893.