Durgapur: From Motihari in Bihar to Durgapur in West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s focus was on Assembly polls as he held road shows, addressed public rallies and announced a slew of development projects for both states on Friday.
Bihar elections are due around November. And though polls in West Bengal are 10 months away, the all stakeholders have started building up for the crucial ballot test in a state which has remained elusive for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
With three-time ruling party Trinamool Congress (TMC) raising the pitch by slamming the Central government’s so-called ‘tirade’ against those speaking Bengali, Modi countered Mamata Banerjee’s strategy with a stern warning to infiltrators.
“Let me say this clearly from the land of Durgapur — anyone who is not a citizen of India, anyone who has entered the country illegally, legal action will continue against them as per the Constitution of India,” PM Modi said in Durgapur.
He also addressed issue of bias against Bengali-speaking people, as the TMC has been alleging.
Referring to Dr Syama Prasad Mukherjee’s vision of ‘One Nation, One Constitution’, Modi said it had become a core commitment of the BJP, which not only adopted this vision but also fulfilled it.
“For the BJP, the Bengali language is a symbol of inspiration, tradition, and identity. Bengali pride is paramount for the BJP,” the PM remarked.
He claimed that Bengali pride was of great importance to the saffron party, and stressed that in every BJP-ruled state, Bengali language and people of West Bengal are treated with the highest respect.
Modi turned the narrative around, and accused Trinamool Congress of endangering the state’s identity.
“But what is happening here in West Bengal? TMC, driven by its selfish interests, has put the identity of West Bengal at stake,” he quipped.
Modi said that the West Bengal government stands as a wall obstructing the state’s development.
“The day this wall of the TMC government falls, from that day Bengal will catch a new pace of development. Only when the TMC government goes will real change come,” he said.
“I want to assure the youth that Bengal’s current problems can be fixed. Once a new government is formed, the state can grow into a leading industrial hub in the country,” he said.