Modi and Mamata slug it out as they woo voters in North Bengal
West Bengal on Thursday witnessed high voltage campaigns from both the BJP and Trinamool Congress with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee trying to woo voters of North Bengal as three constituencies are going to polls just after two weeks in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Cooch Behar became a political battleground as the star campaigners of the BJP and the TMC lashed out at each other over issues such as the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), implementation and funding of different welfare projects and the socioeconomic development of the Rajbanshi community — one of the major ethnic groups of North Bengal.
While Banerjee alleged that Nisith Pramanik, the incumbent BJP MP and Union Minister who is contesting from Cooch Behar constituency, did not develop the region in the last five years, Modi claimed Pramanik was always active for the state’s development. Without naming him, the TMC supremo accused Pramanik — a former leader of her party — of indulging in violence.
Voting for the three seats — Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar — in the northern part of West Bengal will be held on April 19. The constituencies have become a battle of prestige for both BJP and Trinamool as all these seats had been clinched by the saffron party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“This is the election for the country. This election is to make India the world’s third largest economy. For our country to become the third largest economy, you need to elect a stable government at the Centre,” the PM said at a public rally at Rash Mela Ground.
“When our country becomes Viksit Bharat, Bengal will be one of the biggest beneficiaries. But, the TMC government here doesn’t allow implementation of Central schemes. The state government could not finish different welfare projects within the given timeline,” he said, alleging the state government did not take good care of the Rajbanshi community.
Modi slammed the TMC and INDIA bloc for spreading “misinformation” regarding the CAA.
“They never cared for the marginalised communities. Now, that we have brought CAA, they are spreading rumours and lies. It is Modi ki guarantee to provide citizenship to those who have faith in Maa Bharati (Mother India),” he said.
Earlier, addressing a rally at Mathabhanga in Cooch Behar, the CM said, “They (BJP) will be here for a meeting today. They will shed crocodile tears. Ask them why the funds under MGNREGA and Awas Yojana were not released. We were the topmost state in terms of implementation of these schemes.”
Banerjee alleged that the CAA is a “trap” to turn legal citizens into foreigners. “Once they (BJP) implement it, the NRC will follow. Remember CAA is the head of the fish, the tail is the NRC. We would allow neither CAA nor NRC in Bengal,” she said. She claimed that her government had implemented several developmental projects for the upliftment of the Rajbanshi community.
TMC has fielded Jagadish Chandra Barma Basunia, a prominent leader, for the Cooch Behar seat to take on Nisith Pramanik.
For Gourav Vallabh, a former Finance Professor from Xavier School of Management (XLRI), quitting as Congress spokesperson to join the BJP on Thursday is a big leap of faith. It is simultaneously a loss for the Congress as Vallabh was among its most effective spokespersons not just on matters concerning finance and economy but on social and political issues as well.
Although his resignation letter a few hours before he joined the saffron party indicated his latest political alignment, Vallabh’s positioning as a trenchant critic of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes him an unlikely entrant in the party.
For someone who consistently attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Minister Smriti Irani for their educational qualifications and Home Minister Amit Shah for the criminal cases that he had faced in the past, joining the same political grouping was as sudden as it was unseemly. Having attacked the BJP’s Hindutva ideology as being “the belief system of Nathuram Godse”, he turned to criticising the Congress as being “antiHindu” in his resignation