TMC: Shah rally a ‘flop show’
With the Union Home Minister Amit Shah claiming that the next Prime Minister could be from Bengal, Trinamool Congress (TMC) said that the remark indicates that the time for the incumbent PM Narendra Modi is over while promising that his replacement will indeed be from this state but representing the I.N.D.I.A bloc.
Calling Amit Shah’s rally in the city a “flop show”, TMC, on Wednesday, said that the Union Home minister’s visit was aimed at mending the inner schisms ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
Addressing a press conference, TMC leaders Kunal Ghosh, Shashi Panja and Partha Bhowmick called the Shah rally a futile attempt to influence voters ahead of the polls. Ghosh said that the rally could not even gather half the number of people present at Dharmatala each year on TMC’s Martyrs’ Day rally.
Calling Shah an “outsider”, he said that the BJP leader could not even understand the significance of the spot where the rally was held. “He should have paid homage to martyrs at least,” he remarked.
“Shah had probably brought the same script from which he had read out ahead of the 2021 Bengal Assembly polls. His address on Wednesday was directionless. He did not address any of the issues affecting the people, including non-payment of wages and lack of shelter after the Centre blocked MGNREGA and Awas Yojana funds,” Kunal said.
Panja likened the rally to a “roadside political meeting” and said it was aimed at ironing the creases within the state BJP unit.
“Shah was trying to revitalise his party in Bengal. The contents of the complaint box placed at the rally site should be revealed to the people by the BJP. Most complaints are about how the BJP-led Centre is depriving the people of Bengal and about BJP’s inner schisms,”
she remarked.
Replying to Shah’s barbs of corruption against Mamata Banerjee’s government, the TMC leaders pointed out that sitting on the dais with Shah was Suvendu Adhikari who is allegedly involved in both Sarada and Narada corruption cases and yet there is no probe against him by the Central agencies.
On Shah’s allegations of the Bengal government legitimising infiltrators, Ghosh said that the Union Home Ministry is in charge of borders guarded by BSF.
Commenting on the implementation of the CAA, Panja said that the Bengal Chief Minister has already clarified that she will not allow it in Bengal.
The Act was steamrolled through the Parliament in 2019 and it has been four years since but no rules have been framed on it,
she remarked.
It was also added that the very Matua community which Shah attempts to woo each time he is in Bengal, have grown tired of waiting for citizenship to be handed over to them through CAA. “Mamata Banerjee on the contrary has clarified that they (Matuas) are already citizens,” she remarked.
