Senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee and Home Minister Amit Shah.
Credit: PTI Photos
Kolkata: The Trinamool Congress’ government in West Bengal is the most corrupt in the country, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday, triggering a strong response from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party, which called him the “most unsuccessful” among all his predecessors.
“No government in the country is as steeped in corruption as Mamata Banerjee’s is. Corruption has become an integral part of the system in West Bengal,” Shah said at a meeting of the BJP’s workers in Siliguri in North Bengal, referring to the allegations of scams in teacher recruitment processes in the state and cattle smuggling, as well as irregularities in the civic body recruitment, public distribution system and the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
He alleged that the scams during the 15-year-long tenure of Mamata Banerjee had been worth Rs 10 lakh crore.
The Home Minister and the BJP’s chief poll strategist read out the names of some TMC leaders, who had been accused of corruption. “If you are not in favour of corruption, prove it by denying your party’s tickets to these 23 people,” he challenged Mamata, and then added, “But she will give them tickets again, because if she doesn't, they will open the files.”
Shah returned to West Bengal just a month after he had visited the state on December 30 and 31 to review the BJP’s preparations for the assembly elections, which might take place in April-May this year. He addressed two rallies on Saturday – one each in South Bengal and North Bengal.
He said that the BJP would sweep the polls and win in all the constituencies in North Bengal. He also predicted that the saffron party’s vote share would go beyond 50 per cent across the state.
The saffron party had won in 30 of the 54 assembly constituencies in North Bengal in the last elections, when it had won 77 seats in the 294-member House and emerged as a principal challenger to the TMC.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed a rally in Malda on January 17. With back-to-back visits by Shah and Modi to North Bengal, the BJP is trying to add momentum to its campaigning in the region.
Shah also addressed another rally at Barrackpore in South Bengal on Saturday. He reiterated the BJP’s allegation that Mamata’s TMC government was endangering the national security of India by facilitating illegal migration from Bangladesh and allowing them to settle down in West Bengal for vested political interests.
The TMC government must be removed, he said, alleging that the TMC government had repeatedly denied land to the Border Security Force for barbed-wire fencing.
“I had stated in Parliament that the BSF needs land for fencing. I wrote to Mamata Banerjee seven times. I even personally went to meet her. The home secretary went seven times. Yet, land was not given,” the Home Minister alleged, slamming the state government for allegedly hindering efforts to check illegal migration from across Bangladesh to India.
The TMC, too, hit back at Shah, with Abhishek Banerjee, the general secretary of the party, calling him the most unsuccessful home minister the country ever had.
“He speaks about infiltration. He must take the responsibility, as the BSF, which guards the frontiers, is controlled by the Ministry of Home Affairs,” Mamata’s heir apparent told journalists before leaving for Delhi.
Abhishek also responded to Shah’s allegations about corruption by the ruling TMC leaders. He said that the home minister should hold a mirror to his own party.
“Why were the corruption charges against certain leaders dropped after they joined the BJP? Is the BJP a washing machine to remove stains of corruption? Why do central agencies stop investigations midway when leaders join the saffron party?”