Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah on Sunday appealed to people of poll-West Bengal to give one chance to Narendra Modi. Addressing the BJP supporters during a roadshow, Shah vowed to restore the state to its old glory when it was called "sonar Bangla" (Bengal of gold) if the BJP is voted to power in the upcoming assembly elections.
People want change in Bengal, to end political violence, extortion and Bangladeshi infiltration, Shah said, and added that anger prevails across Bengal, state has deviated from path of development.
"I haven't seen a roadshow like this in my life. This roadshow shows love and trust of people of Bengal towards PM Narendra Modi," ANI quoted Shah as saying, on the second day of his two-day visit to the poll-bound state.
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The roadshow, which began around 3.10pm from Dakbunglow grounds in Bolpur, would culminate at Bolpur Chowrasta More.
Shah, standing on top of a decked-up lorry along with state BJP president Dilip Ghosh, was seen waving to the crowd, as saffron party supporters raised 'Jai Shri Ram', 'Narendra Modi Zindabad' and 'Amit Shah Zindabad' slogans. Hundreds of people, standing on both sides of the road, cheered the home minister as he made his way through the crowd.
Later, addressing a press conference, Shah hit out at the state government and claimed that the state has been witnessing stagnancy in the development front. The roads in the state are bad, electricity connection is poor, the healthcare sector is in crisis and the situation in hospitals are deplorable, the home minister said, listing the failure of the state government.
Further, he pointed out that there is no electricity or toilet facilities in many of the schools in the state.
He also condemned the attack on BJP national president J.P. Nadda. “The way TMC workers attacked our national president during his Bengal tour, BJP condemns it and I condemn it too personally. BJP believes that in a democracy everyone should have the right to voice their views,” ANI quoted him as saying.
“I want to tell all TMC leaders that they must not be under the wrong impression that the BJP will stop with such attacks. We will work to establish our base in West Bengal,” he further said.
Earlier in the day, he visited the house of a 'Baul' singer (sufi genre folk music of Bengal) in Santiniketan and had lunch there. Shah savoured the delicacies—'palong saak', 'alu posto', 'begun bhaja', 'nolen gurer payes' and 'nalen gurer rosogolla'.
—With PTI inputs
