Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee urged the people of Basirhat to give a befitting reply to the saffron party that had lowered the prestige of the people of Bengal before the country. He was addressing a gathering at Baduria this afternoon. The area falls under the Basirhat Lok Sabha seat.

The Trinamul Congress has fielded Haji Nurul Islam, while the BJP has fielded Rekha Patra. Trinamul Congress had won the seat by a huge margin in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The election in Basirhat Lok Sabha seat will be held on 1 June, along with Barasat, Kolkata South and North, Dum Dum, Jadavpur, Mathurapur, Jaynagar and Diamond Harbour. Mr Banerjee said that on 4 May a video clip was released that showed how the BJP leaders had hatched a conspiracy to defame Trinamul leaders in the area.

The mandal president of the BJP, Gangadhar Kayal, was heard saying that the women of Sandeshkhali had not been abused or raped, and the whole plot was engineered just to defame Trinamul. “Just think of the mentality of the BJP. They can stoop down to any level just to win an election. They have lowered the prestige of Bengal in the eyes of the entire country, so do not forgive them. Defeat them handsomely in the election. The election here will be held on 1 June and ensure that our candidate Nurul wins by more than 3.5 lakh votes.” Mr Banerjee reiterated that he would win the Diamond Harbour seat by more than 4 lakh votes.

Throwing a challenge to Rekha Patra, the BJP candidate from the seat, Mr Banerjee said, “I challenge you to ask any of your leaders from Delhi who come here to take part in a debate to tell the people what work the Centre has done in the past 10 years; you fix up the date and time, and rest assured, I will score 10 goals,” he maintained. Coming down heavily on Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, he said, “Just think of their audacity. They want 35 seats with the intention of toppling an elected government in Bengal.

They are not talking about development. Their sole purpose is to topple the government. I assure you that it will not be easy. The people of Bengal will defeat you in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls in such a way that you will not dare come here and speak lies in the future.” He instructed the party leaders and workers to stand by the people and give them essential relief. “We are always with you. You may not find us in good times, but in times of need, rest assured that our party leaders and workers will be by your side,” he said.