In a bid to woo minority voters before Panchayat poll, the West Bengal BJP on Monday organised a seminar for the minority community people at Kalamandir to highlight measures taken by the Narendra Modi-led Central government for the community’s upliftment.

BJP leaders including state president Dilip Ghosh, BJP leader Mukul Roy and Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta addressed the audience on how the Trinamul Congress-led state government is depriving the minority community people of benefits while the Centre is effortlessly working to develop infrastructure for the community.

BJP state president said that the BJP is now a main Opposition party in West Bengal as in recent bypolls the BJP emerged second in both Uluberia and Noapara seats. “This shows how people embrace BJP as the alternative to Trinamul Congress. The state government promised minority communities many things before the poll but did not fulfill them,” he said.

BJP leader Mukul Roy said that BJP-led Central government gave huge funds to the Bengal government for the development of the minority people but those were not properly utilised by the Trinamul Congress.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta said, “The road building programme, the steady progress towards 24×7 electrification of India by 2019, the huge energy savings through low cost LED bulbs, the rationalisation of cooking gas subsidies, the financial inclusion effected through Jan Dhan Yojana and the construction of nearly 35 crore toilets should count as the Centre’s major achievements,” he said.

Mr Dasgupta also said that the deft handling of the GST legislation, the simplification of rules and procedures for business, the near-mandatory transfer of welfare entitlements by bank transfer, the transparency in the auction of natural resources and the corrective actions to make states more financially empowered are long-term achievements of the Modi government.

BJP’s minority morcha president Ali Hossain said that the state BJP minority morcha has organised this seminar on Monday, as it got “positive response” to its earlier event on 11 January. “We are getting good response from the members of minority communities so we are continuing to organise such seminars and conferences for further integration,” Mr Hossain said.

On 11 January, the state BJP minority morcha had organised a minority conference at Rani Rashmoni Avenue in Kolkata. According to a senior BJP leader, reaching out to all communities will benefit the party immensely ahead of 2018 panchayat polls. Several speakers from minority community addressed the audience.