Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday targeted West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata at a rally to launch BJP’s ‘Aar Noi Annay’ (no more atrocity) campaign saying that ‘sonar Bangla’ (golden Bengal) is not possible as long as Mamata Banerjee government remains in power.

He accused Banerjee of “triggering riots” and “burning trains” to oppose the Citizenship Act. The protests by the Bengal CM, who opposed it staunchly “will be of no avail,” Shah said and asked: “Mamata didi  by doing all this are you able to stop us?”

Advertisement

Shah raised the ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’ slogan, and asked the crowd to repeat it in chorus loudly “so that it reaches the ears of all those opposed to the new citizenship law CAA”.

“I want to ask Mamata didi — why are you hurting the interests of our refugees?” Mr Shah said at a rally in the heart of Kolkata this evening. “You only care about infiltrators. Refugees are being misled and scared… Hindus who fled our neighbouring countries who were raped and threatened and killed… should they not get citizenship?” he questioned further targeting the CM.

“Before the Lok Sabha polls, Mamata didi used to say our candidates will lose their deposits. But for the first time we won 18 of the 42 seats in the state. Mamata didi can see the figures. In the coming assembly polls also, the BJP will get an absolute majority… a two-thirds majority and form the government,” the senior BJP leader said addressing his first public rally in Bengal after the last year’s general elections.

Taking on Mamata Banerjee for promoting parivarvad (family rule) by ‘trying to anoint’  nephew Abhishek – now a Trinamool MP and one its prominent leaders – as her successor, Shah said such things cannot be done in Bengal.

“No shehzada (prince) will become the next Bengal chief minister. A son of the soil will be the next chief minister,” said Shah, without naming Abhishek.

Shah landed in Kolkata this morning to launch the BJP’s campaign in West Bengal by taking out a pro-Citizenship Amendment Act rally in Kolkata amid protests against his presence. Shah’s visit to Bengal has been met by multiple protests across the city with #GoBackAmitShah trending on Twitter.

Union Home Minister kicked off the BJP’s campaign at a rally at Shahid Minar grounds for the municipal elections in April across West Bengal which can be seen as the first step towards the assembly polls of 2021. Shah launched the BJP’s campaign song attacking Trinamool Congress. The title of the song is “Aar Noi Annay” (No More Injustice).

The opposition parties in the state, the CPM and Congress have criticized Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for allowing the BJP rally at a time when political activities are restricted because of ongoing board exams. The Trinamool Congress leader has also been slammed for failing to condemn the Delhi riots when she met Amit Shah for an Eastern Zonal Council meeting in Bhubaneswar on Friday.

The Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has been going all out against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). Banerjee has been regularly leading rallies and addressing public meetings on these issues.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee earlier in February said that BJP was showing signs of nervousness after the large-scale agitation against the contentious CAA-NPR being organised across the country and was resorting to its pet agenda of spreading hatred and fear psychosis among the people to divide them.

“The BJP is scared over the overwhelming response of the common people across the country as peaceful agitation against the CAA-NPR was getting bigger and bigger and assumed alarming proportions. Out of fear, the leaders of the BJP, including the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and a union minister are trying to spread hatred and create polarisation on religious lines by asking people to open fire,”  Banerjee said in  Nabanna.

West Bengal too passed a resolution against the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in the state assembly. It has become the fourth state to do so, while it also asked the Centre to roll back the National Population Register (NPR) and the proposed implementation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) throughout India.

BJP ridiculing the Trinamul had earlier said that the Trinamul Congress (TMC) moved to bring resolution in the state Assembly against CAA will be an exercise in futility as well states are bound to follow a piece of legislature once it was passed in the Parliament.