Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday took a jibe at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and said that she disliked ‘Jai Shree Ram’ slogan to appease a particular community.
Shah, who flagged off BJP’s fourth phase of ‘Parivartan Rathyatra’ from Coochbehar, participated in his party’s event after performing a puja at the Madanmohan Temple there.
He was also seen paying tributes to Rajbangshi reformer Panchanan Barma before addressing the crowd at Rasmela Maidan.
“Mamata didi is behaving as if saying ‘Jai Shree Ram’ is illegal. This is Hindustan. If not here, will we say ‘Jai Shree Ram’ in Pakistan. She is doing so to appease a particular community,” Shah said.
The BJP’s defacto second-in-command added, “Do people of other communities not vote? By the time election ends, Mamata didi will also start saying ‘Jai Shree Ram’.”
Shah’s attack could be put in context of Banerjee’s protest against the ‘Jai Shree Ram’ slogans being hurled at her during the 125th birth anniversary event of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose in Kolkata last month.
Attacking the TMC supremo further, the former BJP national president alleged that her only aim was to make nephew Abhishek Banerjee the next chief minister of West Bengal.
“Mamata didi is only waiting to make her nephew the next CM. Had it not been for our state president Dilip Ghosh, she might have made a formal announcement. Now the time has come to choose between Modi ji’s development and Mamata’s destruction,” he said.
Meanwhile, Shah continued to keep his speech subtly communal throughout as he claimed that Bengali festivals such as Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja were facing irregularities in the state.
“Modi ji has paid a lot of amount to Bengal in the last five years. But Mamata didi and her nephew have consumed everything. Mamata didi always fights with the Prime Minister. Will the state develop by that? It won’t.
“Will we have to go to high court for Durga Puja now? This will not work here Mamata didi. We will celebrate everything here from Durga Puja to Ram Navami to Saraswati Puja,” he asserted.
Invoking the debate further about Ayushman Bharat and PM-KISAN, Shah hit out at Banerjee for not allowing people to avail the benefits of the Central schemes.
“I’ve seen so many deprived citizens here in North Bengal. Modi Sarkar has started Ayushman Bharat. Mamata didi has not allowed it’s implementation here. But don’t worry now, when we come to power we’ll bring Ayushman Bharat.
“Also the farmers are supposed to get 6000 rupees every year. But the West Bengal government doesn’t allow that as well. When we come to power we’ll pay you this year’s 6000 plus what you were supposed to get in the last two years. So you’ll get a total of 18,000 rupees,” the 56-year-old said.
Shah also promised a string of development initiatives in Coochbehar relating to the native Rajbangshi community.
While announcing a tourist circuit house at the locations of Madanmohan Temple, Kamateshwari Temple and at the birth place of Panchanan Barma, Shah promised a ‘Narayani Battalion’ in the paramilitary force.