By PTI
Invoking Constitution and B R Ambedkar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday pilloried Mamata Banerjee over a TMC leader likening the scheduled castes in West Bengal to beggars and claimed she could not have made the “seriously objectionable” comment without the permission of the chief minister.
Drawing a cricket analogy, Modi said the people of Bengal have hit so many fours and sixes in the first four phases of the assembly polls that the BJP has already completed its century and Mamata Banerjee’s “innings is over”.
Modi, on a whirlwind election tour of the state, addressed three rallies in Bardhaman, Kalyani and Barasat where he came down hard on Banerjee, accusing her of instigating people against central forces on election duty in the state.
“Didi calls herself a Royal Bengal Tiger. You tell me is it possible for someone to say such things without her permission? Such comments hurt the soul of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar. Such a seriously objectionable comment has been made but Didi hasn’t condemned it or apologised for it.
“You have committed the biggest mistake, the biggest sin by insulting Dalits, Didi,” Modi told rally after election rally while referring to the alleged comments made by TMC leader and party candidate for assembly polls Sujata Mondol Khan.
The BJP has decided to launch protests in West Bengal against the alleged disparaging comments of Khan.
A delegation of BJP’s Dalit MPs, including party general secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam, Sunita Dughal, Hansraj Hans and its SC wing head Lal Singh Arya, submitted a memorandum to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes in New Delhi on Monday and sought action against the TMC leader.
A party delegation had on Sunday lodged a similar complaint with the Election Commission.
The prime minister said the people of Bengal have made up their mind to show TMC the door on May 2, the day the votes will be counted.
“People of Bengal hit so many fours and sixes that BJP has already completed a century (of seats) in the first 4 phases of assembly polls.
They have wiped out the TMC in half the match (aadha mein poora saaf). “People of Bengal have clean bowled Didi in Nandigram, and her innings in Bengal is over. People have asked her entire team to leave the field,” he told an election rally in Bardhaman.
Mocking the TMC supremo’s “Ma, Mati, Manush” slogan, the prime minister said, “Tormenting ‘Ma’, looting ‘Mati’ (motherland) and bloodshed of ‘Manush’ (people) is its reality.” Alleging that Banerjee incited people against central forces, he referred to the killing of four in the firing by CISF personnel in Cooch Behar on April 10.
“In the last 10 years Mamata Banerjee conspired to deny the scheduled castes, the poor and the deprived sections their rights through ‘chappa vote’ (rigging).
“What happened in Cooch Behar was the consequence of this conspiracy, Didi’s masterplan for ‘chappa votes’ (rigging).
Victory and defeat are part of democracy but you will not be allowed to snatch away people’s right to vote,” he told another rally in Kalyani in Nadia district.
He said Banerjee’s policies have snuffed out the lives of children of countless mothers.
Addressing a rally in Matua dominated Kalyani, Modi said Didi even disapproved of his visit to Orakandi in Bangladesh where the founder of the Matua sect and social reformer Harichand Thakur was born.
“Didi did not like my going to Orakandi in Bangladesh, she raised questions over my visit. I have come to assure you today that all refugees will get all facilities due to them, they will get justice. For the BJP, providing justice to all refugees, Matua and Namasudra brothers, is also an emotional commitment,” he said.
Matuas, a weaker section originally from Bangladesh, migrated to West Bengal in large numbers after Partition and later during the war for Bangladesh’s freedom from Pakistan. Many of them have got Indian citizenship and many not.
The TMC had objected to Modi’s visit to Bangladesh in the middle of the election campaign claiming it was designed to influence voters in certain constituencies in West Bengal.
The prime minister alleged Banerjee’s appeasement politics hurt Matua and Namsudra communities hard and they had to pay commission to “TMC’s extortionists” even to obtain scheduled caste certificates.
Accusing Banerjee of dividing people, Modi said “Jukto koro-Seva Koro” (uniting people and serving them) is his motto.
“Didi knows Congress could not return to power once ousted, Left could not return once removed from power, you too will never be able to bounce back,” he said.
Deriding Banerjee, Modi said she had forgotten her party’s motto ‘Maa, Maati, Manush’ and is only chanting his name at public meetings. She only created a mess in the name of governance, the prime minister alleged.
Referring to the recent incident of lynching of a Bihar police officer in West Bengal and the death of his mother from shock which led to their funeral pyres being lit together, Modi said Mamata Banerjee’s government does not respect anyone anymore, “not even mothers”.
“Didi, is that officer’s mother not a mother for you? No mother in Bengal knew how cruel and ruthless you are,” Modi said.
He said Banerjee was getting angrier with each passing day because people of Bengal have decided to show her the exit door.
“In democracy it’s the people who begin the game and end it, people of Bengal have decreed your ‘khela’ (game) is up. Didi wanted to hand over the reins to ‘Bhaipo’ (nephew). People saw through the ‘khela’ and decided it should be over,” Modi said, adding the countdown for her government’s departure has begun.
Top BJP leaders have often said Banerjee wanted to hand over the reins of the party and the TMC government to her nephew and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek. The prime minister wondered why Banerjee has never asked for maximum voting.
“Did Didi ever say at rallies that there should be maximum voting? Didi knows the more the polling the more the chances of her being thrown out of power,” he said.
Modi alleged that Banerjee allowed political killings over the last decade to serve her own interests. “She allowed her extortionists to loot Bengal. She betrayed the people of Bengal to make the syndicate powerful. This is the report card of Didi’s 10 years,” he alleged.
