Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda on Sunday accused the previous Congress and the current Mamata Banerjee government of turning West Bengal into a ‘backward state’.

“What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow. It is unfortunate to say that in the past 30-40 years under the rule of Congress or West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, no stone was left unturned to make Bengal backward…,” Nadda said at ‘Sanyukt Morcha Sammelan’ in Kolkata.

He further said that the politics of West Bengal are landing people in trouble.

“We need to know today how Bengal and its politics are landing people in trouble. I feel very happy to say that the people of Bengal have expectations only from the people (BJP workers and leaders) sitting here today,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Nadda, who is on a two-day visit to West Bengal, reached Dakshineswar Kali Temple in Kolkata.

After offering prayers at the temple, Nadda said that he prayed to the goddess and seeks strength and blessing from him and his party members so that they can remain dedicated to the service of “Maa Bharati”.

On Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleged that the ruling Mamata-Banerjee Trinamool Congress had “played with blood.”

“TMC ne khooni khel khela hai…,” PM Modi said in Hindi while addressing the Kshetriya Panchayati Raj Parishad in West Bengal via videoconferencing.

Further, the prime minister accused the party of threatening voters and “making their life hell.”

“They do anything required to ensure that no BJP candidate can file nomination…they not only threaten BJP workers but also the voters. Contracts are given out to capture booths…This is their way of doing politics in the state,” the prime minister said.

He further alleged that TMC gave contracts to goons and asked them to capture the booth on the vote-counting day.

“The party had given a contract to goons and asked them to capture booths on the vote counting day. During the counting of the votes, the TMC forced BJP members out of office and did not let them even watch. When BJP won despite all this, they took out rallies against our members,” the prime minister said.

Panchayat elections in West Bengal took place on July 8 and counting of the votes for 63,229 -Gram Panchayat seats took place on July 11.