Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday warned West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee she would pay a political price for opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. Shah was speaking at a virtual rally for West Bengal.
Shah alleged Mamata became “red” with anger following passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in December last year. Mamata, and other opposition parties, had opposed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Shah asked Mamata how had the Matua refugee community hurt her. The Matua community are refugees from Bangladesh and have been demanding Indian citizenship. Shah warned Mamata that when the ballot boxes are opened, the “people of West Bengal would make her a political refugee for opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act”.
Shah also accused Mamata Banerjee of not allowing the Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme to be implemented in the state. Shah said Mamata was blocking it due to fears that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was becoming too popular. Shah declared the moment a BJP chief minister is sworn in in West Bengal after next year's Assembly polls, the Ayushman Bharat scheme will be implemented in the state.
Shah declared the BJP might have won 303 seats in last year's Lok Sabha polls, but for a party worker like him, the "18 seats from West Bengal were very important".
Shah challenged Mamata to give an account of her 10-year tenure as chief minister.
Shah began the rally by paying tribute to victims of coronavirus and the recent Cyclone Amphan. Shah also paid respects to BJP workers killed in political violence in West Bengal. Shah noted, "Since 2014, over 100 BJP workers lost their lives in political battles here in West Bengal. I pay my respect to their families as they've contributed to development of a golden Bengal".
Declaring that the BJP was not in West Bengal just for expanding its political reach, "but for making a golden Bengal". ''Bengal is the only state where communal violence is still ongoing. It should stop.”
The BJP is planning to conduct more than 1,000 virtual rallies, covering every nook and corner of the state.
"For the last two months, our cadres are sitting idle at homes. Amit Shah Ji's rally would be very crucial to boost the morale of our cadres and will help them to re-energise ahead of the next year's Assembly polls," a BJP leader told PTI on Monday.
More than 3 lakh people would watch Shah live on social media.
Shah's virtual rally for Bengal comes days after he had exuded confidence of BJP winning a majority in next year's Assembly polls.
Buoyed by stupendous performance in the last year's general election in which BJP had bagged 18 seats out of a total of 42, only four less than TMC's tally, the saffron party leaders have been asserting that 2021 Bengal polls is the next target.
The BJP and the TMC, which have been at each other's jugular over the handling of the COVID-19 situation, migrant workers' plight and Cyclone Amphan, are all set to launch a blitzkrieg on various virtual platforms, tearing into each other over these issues.
The TMC was first off the block with its supremo Mamata Banerjee holding a virtual meeting with functionaries and public representatives on June 5, outlining the party's strategy for the polls.
