JOIN USThe BJP on Sunday joined the list of political parties who held a mega-rally at the historic Brigade Parade Grounds in central Kolkata, which is witness to almost all major political developments in Bengal.
The star attraction was Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who lashed out at both the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Left-Congress combine in equal terms, touching upon every agenda his party has been campaigning on for the last few months.
Modi claimed that Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee is attacking everybody “because she realises she has lost”, adding that people should not vote for the Left-Congress coalition as “they are not here to work for Bengal’s development but to save their sinking ship”. “Will you vote for those who have been rejected by people across the country?” he asked the rally at Kolkata on Sunday afternoon. The prime minister was addressing his first rally at the historic grounds.
Earlier in the day, he addressed another rally at Krishnanagar in Nadia district, where he raised same points. Talking about Banerjee’s recent slur against the Election Commission after being served a show-cause notice, Modi said, “She has already accepted defeat and is now fighting with the Election Commission instead of political parties. The EC is like an umpire and everybody should respect it. Elections will come and go but the EC is an institution.”
He added that if reports are true that the state’s chief secretary replied to the EC on her behalf, it should be considered “a misuse of state machinery”. Modi also raised the issue of the multi-crore Saradha scam and the recent surfacing of a controversial video footage, two scams that have got several Trinamool leaders embroiled. “Every village in Bengal has been affected by the chit fund scam. There will be hard to find a villager who has not lost money. Trinamool leaders have taken money and compromised the future of Bengal and its youth,” the prime minister said.
Stating that his three-point agenda for Bengal is “...development, development at a fast pace and overall development”, he touched upon issues like the recent flyover collapse in Kolkata and real estate syndicates allegedly run by Trinamool leaders.