Lotus has bloomed from 'Gangotri to Gangasagar': PM Modi after BJP's historic win in West Bengal

New Delhi: Dedicating the party’s solid win in Bengal and the “years of dedication” of karyakartas to the dream of party founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee, prime minister Narendra Modi in his victory speech at the BJP headquarters on Monday said that Bengal has embraced “poriborton (peace)”, and that the lotus has bloomed from “Gangotri to Gangasagar”. 

Modi said that the ideologue is now at peace. “Syama Prasad Mookerjee dreamt of a self-reliant Bengal; and we had to wait for a long time to achieve that. But from today, Bengal is fearless; it has changed. These results have brought peace to his soul,” Modi said. He added that Mookerjee, who founded the Jana Sangh in 1951, had  inspired generations of BJP workers to “live for the country and if needed, die for the country”.  

Calling it a new dawn, Modi said that women in Bengal will now enjoy a safe environment. “With Bengal’s victory, the lotus has bloomed from Gangotri to Gangasagar — Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and now West Bengal. These states, nestled around the Ganga, now have the BJP and NDA in power,” Modi said. 

Modi, dressed in an attire of the Bengali-style dhoti, was welcomed in the BJP headquarters by president Nitin Nabin, as karyakartas waited patiently for his speech. On the dais, he was flanked by Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah and other senior leaders. Before Modi landed in the party office, mishti doi, rasogullas and jhalmuri were freely distributed to celebrate the win. 

Modi said that political violence in BJP must stop. “There should be a change in the political habits of the state. Today, when the BJP has won, not badla (revenge) but badlav (change) should be talked about. Let us end this endless cycle of violence,” he said.

Modi said that the “women” of the poll-bound states have “punished” the Congress, Trinamool, and the DMK for voting against the bills to amend the women’s reservation legislation linked to delimitation. “In Kerala, the Congress has certainly benefited from the ten years of misrule by the Left, but I am confident that the sisters of Kerala will also teach the party a lesson in the next elections,” Modi said.