Bengal polls to be Modi's 'vikas' vs Mamata's 'vinash' models: Amit Shah

Launching yet another salvo at the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the upcoming state election will be a contest between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “development model” and TMC’s “destruction model.”

Shah made the statement while attending the BJP’s Parivartan Yatra rally in Coochbehar in north Bengal. The yatra, he said, is not for changing the chief minister, MLA or minister, but ending infiltration and transforming the condition of West Bengal.

Criticising Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee, Shah said their yatra is also aimed at ending corruption patronised by “Bua-Bhatija” combine. He also termed Chief Minister Banerjee as a “failed administrator”.

The BJP has been accusing Banerjee and nephew Abhishek, an MP representing Diamond Harbour constituency, of “institutionalising corruption”.

He also spoke about the alleged political killing of BJP workers in the state and warned that the perpetrators will be thrown behind bars. “This Parivartan Yatra is not for changing a CM, MLA or a minister. It is for ending infiltration, its for the transformation of Bengal.”

“You vote the BJP to power in Bengal. Leave alone illegal immigrants, not even a bird from across the border will be allowed to enter the state,” Shah said addressing a rally before flagging off the fourth of the five Parivartan Yatras planned by the BJP ahead of the polls.

The Union minister said that the BJP is ready to take on the “goons” of the ruling TMC.

“You think that we can get intimidated by the TMC goons? They cannot stall BJP’s march to power. Once we are in power, each and every perpetrator of violence that led to the killings of BJP workers will be thrown behind bars,” he asserted.

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He alleged that Mamata Banerjee gets angry at Jai Shri Ram slogan, but will herself begin chanting it by the time assembly polls are over.

“If Jai Shri Ram is not chanted in India, will it be chanted in Pakistan? You get angry over it because you want to appease a particular section of people for vote bank politics,” he said.

Shah said the upcoming assembly poll will be a contest between the “vikas (development) model” of the Narendra Modi government and Mamata Banerjee’s “vinash (destruction) model”.

The home minister said while the Modi government works for “jan kalyan” (public welfare), the Mamata dispensation is bothered only about “bhatija kalyan” (nephew’s welfare).

(With inputs from agencies)