Fresh from his re-election, BJP President Amit Shah today accused the Mamata Banerjee government of practicing "vote bank politics" and also alleged it had turned West Bengal into a safe haven for anti-national elements and fake currency racket.
Shah while making a reference to the multi-crore Saradha and Rose valley chit fund scams also said that chit fund was the only industry that is flourishing in West Bengal.
The ruling Trinamool Congress hit back saying BJP will not be able to see any development in the state as they themselves are losing each and every election since last year.
"TMC's vote bank politics has turned Bengal into a hub for anti-national elements. Regular bomb blasts have proved how anti-national elements and fake currency rackets have turned it into a safe haven. Infiltration is encouraged for the sake of vote bank politics," Shah said virtually sounding the bugle for the state Assembly poll due a few months away.
Like union Home minister Rajnath Singh, he too attacked the TMC government on the issue of violence in Malda and alleged "It was mishandled by the TMC government."
"The entire country is worried about Malda violence but the Chief Minister is saying it is a result of scuffle between BSF and locals. It is not true. The morale of police has been brought down. The police station was attacked and police vehicles were burnt.
"I want to ask are you chief minister of the entire state or only for those goons?" Shah asked.
The BJP president did not spare the Banerjee government on the chit fund issue and said "The 17 lakh people who have been duped by Saradha and Rose valley chit funds want to know what happened to the money that was siphoned off. In Bengal all industries are closed and only one industry is flourishing-- that is chit fund," he said.
"The people may know her as CM, but the chit fund owners know her as a great painter, whose paintings were bought for crores (by them).
"The people are not fools didi (Mamata), they know very well that chit funds are running in connivance with TMC," he said.
Urging the people to give BJP a chance in the coming Assembly poll, Shah said, "We will take Bengal on the path of development. We don't practice vote bank politics."
Infiltration from Bangladesh would be checked if BJP is voted to power in Bengal, he added.
Reacting to Shah's comment, TMC secretary general Partha Chatterjee said he should first look into various corruption charges agaisnt the BJP government at the Centre.
"We have taken action in the Chit Fund case and are looking into all chit funds since 1980", Chatterjee said.
Shah parried a question about whether Ram temple will be a
poll issue for BJP in the UP polls, saying it has been in the party's manifesto and the party wanted a resolution based on either consensus or court's verdict.
The party is holding its national executive in Allahabad on June 12-13 and he would be going to the state three times before that, Shah said, underlining UP's priority in his scheme of things.
He also made light of questions about AAP gaining in strength in Punjab, where polls are due early next year, saying he had heard so only through media and was yet to make an independent assessment.
"Punjab is not Delhi. Mass base matters," he said, suggesting Arvind Kejriwal's party's lack of roots in the state would go against it.
Asked if BJP agreed with party MP Subramanian Swamy's aggressive stand on a host of issues, including his recent demand that RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan be sacked, Shah said "What I say is the party's line".
Commenting on the recent assembly elections, he said he was "happiest" about Kerala results as the party-led alliance had bagged 15 per cent votes and noted that before BJP formed its governments in Gujarat and Karnataka for the first time it had hardly polled 11-12 per cent votes.
On being asked about BJP's mission of 'Congress-mukt Bharat', Shah said the slogan is often "misinterpreted".
The BJP chief said the Congress party stood for "sacrificing" national interest for its "selfish" gains and for "misgovernance" and getting rid of this is what he meant by "Congress-mukt Bharat".
If Congress loses everywhere, it is good for BJP, he said.
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As part of BJP's programme to spread awareness about the achievements of the Narendra Modi government across the country, Shah said he would visit Port Blair on May 27.
