The West Bengal urban development and municipal affairs minister, Firhad Hakim today likened BJP to the British, claiming the colonial powers too came from Gujarat to take over Bengal using deception and communalism while he added that women in Bengal represent the ideals of the Trinamul supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee and hence should fight communal forces, tooth and nail.

Addressing a public rally in Jiaganj, Mr Hakim said, the British colonial powers came from Gujarat and realised quickly that Bengal isn’t easy to capture and hence murdered Nawab Siraj Ud Daulah to gain a foothold in the state.

Likewise, the saffron brigade with their roots in Gujarat believe they can capture Bengal using communalism but the “mothers and sisters of Siraj- Ud-Daulah” will once again fight back such communal forces, he said.

In a bid to woo women voters at the rally, Mr Hakim appealed to the women in the crowd by highlighting all the schemes implemented by the state government which empowers women.

He pointed out that Kanyasree which earned international recognition will further empower women in Bengal who will be its future leaders.

“One does need to worry about how to finance their daughter’s higher education anymore. Kanyasree takes care of it” he emphasised.

“Today families with poor economic conditions do not worry about how to manage resources to get their daughters married off. That has been solved by Mamata Banerjee who introduced the Rupasree scheme, taking care of all the expenses” added Mr Hakim.

The Trinamul leader further said that thousands of students who had to discontinue their school education because of not being able to afford conveyances to their schools, today feel empowered with cycles provided under Sabuj Saathi scheme.

He highlighted that the number of people turning up at Duare Sarkar camps to register for the Swastha Saathi health insurance scheme proves that citizens of Bengal are happy with such development schemes and no longer do they need to run from one hospital to the other in times of emergency just to avoid exorbitant hospital charges. Firhad Hakim today made a slew of inaugurations during his visit to Murshidabad.

It includes an electric crematorium in Azimganj side at ward 17 under Jiagunj Azimganj Municipality. The project was implemented at a cost of Rs 1.50 crore and will cover a vast area up to Nalhati of Birbhum district.

A total of 120 CCTV cameras with a project cost of Rs 1 crore was also inaugurated under Green City Mission.

He also laid the foundation stone of a water supply project costing Rs 56.33 crore which will benefit 13000 families residing within Jiagunj Azumganj municipality area.