West Bengal wants Gujarat-like development: Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday stated that the people of West Bengal always wished the BJP to take power in the state as they aspired for development like what has taken place in Gujarat.

"I watched a social media interview of an elderly woman in Bengal where she kept on repeating Modi-Modi. But when asked who she will vote for, she said she will vote for the Communists.

"When she was asked why, since she wanted Gujarat like development, she said this is Bengal, we can't say all this publicly, you never know what happens to you," Modi said during his first speech in Gujarat after the 2019 landslide victory in the Lok Sabha battle.

The Prime Minister recalled that ever since the 2014 elections, the story of Gujarat's development initiatives had reached all corners of the country even before he reached various places for campaigning.

Modi was speaking at a thanks-giving public function near the Old BJP headquarters in Ahmedabad's Khanpur area. Thousands of party workers and people waited to listen to him.

Modi and BJP President Amit Shah earlier arrived here on a two-day visit to their home turf Gujarat, which has again given the party all the 26 Lok Sabha seats.

They landed at the Sardar Patel airport around 6 p.m. and offered floral tributes to the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at the airport.

They reached the old State BJP headquarters at JP Chowk in the Khanpur area. Modi used to live here in a room when he was the Gujarat BJP Organizational Secretary in the late 1980s during the party's formative years in the state.

--IANS

desai/mr