Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], March 28 (ANI): Ahead of state assembly elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, with West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and BJP State President Samik Bhattacharya, released the BJP’s “charge sheet” in Kolkata against the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) government.
Addressing the press conference in Kolkata, Shah asserted that the upcoming elections in Bengal will be a choice between “fear and trust.”
He criticised Mamata Banerjee’s leadership, accusing her of fostering a politics of lies, violence, and corruption over the past 15 years.
The state will conduct elections in two phases, on April 23 and April 29, with counting of votes for both phases scheduled for May 4.
Shah said, “In the coming elections, Bengal has to choose between fear and trust. For the last 15 years, politics of fear and corruption has been going on. Mamata Banerjee has created a new way of politics by using lies and violence to move her politics forward. The basis of TMC coming to power is lies, fear and violence. But since 2011, BJP has been fighting against this, and I believe that this time BJP will form the government in Bengal.”
“In today’s press conference, we have come with a chargesheet against the 15 years of rule by the TMC government. This chargesheet is filed against the Mamata Banerjee government on behalf of the people of Bengal, which the BJP is voicing. In a way, the people of Bengal have to decide in the coming elections whether to choose fear or to choose trust,” he said.
Shah expressed confidence that, despite these tactics, the BJP, which has been opposing such practices since 2011, will form the next government in Bengal.
He also praised Suvendu Adhikari for his extensive tour of the state, addressing key issues.
“Elections have been announced in Bengal. All BJP workers, under the leadership of our state president, have stepped into Bengal with the resolve to form a BJP government. This election in Bengal is also very important for national security. The security of the entire eastern region is connected to Bengal. After the BJP government was formed in Assam, infiltration has almost ended. Now, only one route remains from where infiltrators enter the entire country, and that is Bengal,” he said.
“Our opposition leader, Shri Suvendu Adhikari ji, has also toured the entire Bengal before the elections, taking the issues of disorder, anarchy, economic distress, and especially infiltration prevalent in Bengal to every individual,” he said.
He criticized the TMC for failing to deliver on its promise of a “Sonar Bangla,” turning Bengal into a hub for criminal syndicates and stifling industrial growth, which he described as a “graveyard for industry.”
“This chargesheet is a compilation of the dark deeds of the TMC government over 15 years. It is the story of a regime that established syndicate rule by dangling the dream of Sonar Bangla and exploiting the people of Bengal. Under TMC’s misrule, Bengal has turned into a laboratory for corruption. Criminal syndicates are tormenting the public from top to bottom. In the absence of development, Bengal has become, in a way, a graveyard for industry,” he said. (ANI)