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Tag: Amit Shah

  • Bengal was once India’s leader now entangled in ‘goondaraj’: Amit Shah

    By ANI
    JHARGRAM: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said that West Bengal was once India’s leader and now the state is entangled in “goondaraj”.

    “Bengal was at one time was India’s leader. It was the hub of education, freedom fighters, religious leadership and more. The same Bengal is entangled in goondaraj,” said Shah during the virtual rally here on Monday.

    He further said that the TMC government has taken Bengal to new lows in the last 10 years.

    “Corruption, political violence, polarisation, Hindus and SC/STs had to go to courts for celebrating their festivals – this is the sort of situation they have brought to the state, ruining development in the state,” Shah said.

    After forming the government in West Bengal, he said: “We will build the Pandit Raghunath Murmu Tribal University, in Jhargram for improving opportunities for tribal students.”

    “We will be providing 50 per cent financial assistance to students from tribal community scoring above 70 per cent, in the class 12 exam, for higher education,” he added.

    “Under Stand Up India Scheme, the forthcoming West Bengal govt will allocate Rs 100 crores to help the tribal community become atmanirbhar,” he added.

    Shah was scheduled to address public meetings in Jhargram in West Bengal but unfortunately, his helicopter got damaged and he was unable to visit Jhargram.

    “I was going to come here for campaigning. Unfortunately, my helicopter was damaged and I couldn’t come to see you. West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh our in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya are also present with me,” said Shah.

    Elections to 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. 

  • Meghalaya Governor backs protesting farmers, urges Centre not to offend them

    By PTI
    BAGHPAT: Siding with farmers protesting the Centre’s new agriculture laws, Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik here on Sunday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah not to offend them.

    Speaking at an event in his home district, Malik said if the Centre gives legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP) for crops, farmers will relent.

    The Meghalaya Governor also claimed that he prevented the arrest of farmer leader Rakesh Tikait when he heard rumours about it.

    Malik further said he had requested the prime minister and the home minister not to use force against farmers, and not to send them home from Delhi empty-handed.

    “None of the laws are in favour of farmers. The country in which farmers and soldiers are not satisfied, that country cannot move ahead. That country cannot be saved. Hence, the Army and farmers should be kept satisfied,” Malik said urging PM Modi and Home Minister Shah not to offend them.

    Describing the condition of farmers as bad, Malik said, “They are getting poorer day by day while the salary of government officials and staff increases after every three years. Whatever is sown by a farmer is cheap and whatever he buys is expensive.”

    “They do not know how they are becoming poor. The ‘satyanaash’ (annihilation) of the farmers is taking place without their knowledge. When they go to sow (crops), there is some price, and when they go to reap it, the price decreases by almost Rs 300,” Malik said.

    Taking a jibe at the arguments offered in favour of the new farm laws, Malik said, “A lot of noise was created that farmers can now sell (crops) at any place. This is a 15-year-old law. Despite this, when a farmer from Mathura goes to Palwal with wheat, there is a lathicharge on him. When a farmer from Sonipat comes to Narela, there is a lathicharge on him.”

    “There are many questions of farmers, which must be answered. Today, there is no law in favour of farmers. This has to be corrected. I want to assure you that in the matter of farmers, I will go to any extent to solve their problems,” he said.

    Apparently referring to Sikh farmers protesting against the laws, Malik said, “The Sikh community does not back down and forget things even after 300 years.”

    “Indira Gandhi (ex-PM) had got the ”Mahamrityunjay Mantra Jaap” done for a month after the Operation Blue Star. Arun Nehru told me that when he asked her that you do not believe is such rituals, then why are you performing these, she said you don’t know, I have damaged their ‘Akal Takht’. They will not spare me.”

  • ‘BJP will bring back Sonar Bangla’: Amit Shah tells voters ahead of WB Assembly elections

    By PTI
    KHARAGPUR: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday promised that after coming to power, the BJP will be successful in ushering in “true change in West Bengal and turn the state into “Sonar Bangla” (Golden Bengal) again.

    The senior BJP leader a colourful roadshow at Kharagpur town in Paschim Medinipur district in support of BJP candidates contesting the West Bengal assembly election.

    Shah claimed that the huge turnout in the roadshow underscored that people want change in the state under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    “I promise that the BJP government will be successful in bringing ‘asli parivartan’ (true change) and ‘Sonar Bangla’ will be created again,” Shah said in a brief speech at the end of the roadshow.ALSO READ | Bengal will never bow down before outsiders: TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee attacks BJP

    The roadshow, held between the local BJP office ‘Premhari Bhavan’ and Malancha petrol pump, took over an hour to cover the less than one kilometre stretch, as the huge gathering made it almost impossible for the motorcade to move ahead.

    Shah was accompanied by BJP national general secretary in-charge of West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya and the party’s state president Dilip Ghosh.

    Thousands of people took part in the roadshow, which began after sundown, while people also gathered on rooftops and balconies in buildings on both sides of the road to watch it.

    Shah waved at the spectators and threw rose petals at the participants of the roadshow, with BJP candidate for the Kharagpur Sadar constituency, Hiran Chatterjee, an actor, by his side.ALSO READ | West Bengal polls: Babul Supriyo, Locket Chatterjee among BJP’s new list of candidates

    Visibly pleased at the huge turnout, a smiling Shah showed the victory sign at the participants and spectators.

    The turnout proved that Chatterjee will surely be elected to the assembly, the Union minister said.

    As the wave of people moved forward slowly, the air reverberated with a newly coined slogan, “Ebar BJP” (BJP this time).

    The slogan was also written on the decorated truck on which Shah was standing, and in festoons and posters.

    Security personnel had a tough time managing the crowd as the number of people continued to rise while the cavalcade proceeded in a very slow pace.

  • Amit Shah slams Congress for cosying up to minority-based parties

    Express News Service
    GUWAHATI: Pillorying the Congress for aligning with some minority-based parties in Assam, West Bengal and Kerala, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said the grand old party could go to any length to win elections.

    “In Kerala, the Congress has aligned with the (Indian Union) Muslim League that worked to divide the country. In Assam, it has aligned with the AIUDF (All India United Democratic Front). Similarly in West Bengal, it has forged an alliance with a party floated recently by a cleric of Furfura Sharif Dargah. The Congress can go to any length to win elections,” Shah said addressing a rally at Margherita in poll-bound Assam.

    He went hammer and tongs at the Congress for its tie-up with the AIUDF, which is headed by Lok Sabha member Maulana Badruddin Ajmal. Many in Assam view the AIUDF as the protector of illegal immigrants. Congress and AIUDF are components of an eight-party grand alliance of Opposition. It was formed with the sole aim to oust the BJP from power.

    ALSO READ: Congress releases 12-point ‘chargesheet’ against BJP govt in Assam

    “The elections are just days away and there are two options before you. One is the Modi and Sonowal-led combine of BJP-AGP (Asom Gana Parishad). The other is the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress-Ajmal combine. Tell me who can do well for Assam. This election will determine Assam’s future,” Shah said addressing the crowd.

    Continuing his attack, he said the Congress would go to people, talk about communities and make them fight, which is its policy. But the BJP believes in “sabka saath, sabka vikash, sabka vishwas”.

    “Tell me what you want – violence or peace, gun or employment, infiltration or development? Can Rahul, with Ajmal seated on his shoulders, thwart infiltration? If you vote for the Congress, it will go to Ajmal…

    “I want to make a promise to the people of Assam. Give us five more years. Infiltration will become a thing of the past,” Shah asserted.

    Talking about the BJP’s commitment, he said land at the one-horned rhino fame Kaziranga National Park and the Satras (Vaishnavite prayer centres), encroached upon by the “infiltrators”, was cleared by the state’s BJP-led government.

    “Could the Congress do it? Did it want to do it? No, their eyes are always fixed on the votes of infiltrators (immigrants). The BJP does not do vote-bank politics,” Shah said.

    He slammed Congress also for remembering the tea workers during elections. He asked the party what it did for the workers when it was in power in Assam for 15 years and at the Centre for 10 years. Congress has promised a daily wage of Rs 365 if voted to power. Currently, it is Rs 167.

    Shah reiterated the commitment that the BJP would make Assam flood-free if it retains power. He said the entire state has been already surveyed through satellite imageries and a design prepared to divert the floodwater to canals, reservoirs etc.

  • Amit Shah on two-day campaign in poll-bound Assam, Bengal; may meet kin of deceased BJP workers

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be on a two-day poll campaign in West Bengal starting from Sunday. He will address two rallies in Junglemahal, where the BJP made deep inroads in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections by bagging all five seats, and the other in West Midnapore’s Kharagpur.

    Shah is also likely to hold a roadshow in Kharagpur town. Sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party said Shah and BJP’s national president JP Nadda is likely to meet the family members of 129 BJP workers who were killed in police violence in past few years.

    The BJP has blamed the ruling Trinamool Congress for the violence. Both leaders will be meeting the family members in small groups in the coming days and weeks in the state where the BJP has been running an intense campaign to end the TMC’s 10-year long reign.

    Shah will meet the family members of around 86 of the deceased party workers, and Nadda the rest, sources said. “We are determined to retain our strength that we achieved in the 2019 general elections.

    So, Shah will address a rally at Khatra in Bankura and another in Jhargram,” said a BJP leader. The saf fron camp had snatched the Jhargram Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 which the TMC had won with record margin of more than 3.5 lakh votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. The BJP said Shah will also address two public meetings at Margarita and Nazira in Assam on Sunday.

    (With agency inputs)

  • Amit Shah to campaign in Bengal, Assam on March 14,15

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: With electioneering picking up pace in West Bengal and Assam ahead of first poll polling on March 27, Home Minister Amit Shah will campaign in the two states on March 14, 15.

    On March 14, he will hold a roadshow in Kharagpur and will address two rallies in the state a day later. The rallies will be held in Jhargram and in Ranibandh in Bankura district.

    In Assam, Shah will address poll rallies in Margherita in Tinsukia district and in Nazira in Sivasagar on March 14. The former BJP chief will address a townhall programme in Guwahati on March 15.

    BJP is in power in Assam and is seeking to come to power in West Bengal.

  • Modi, Shah lacked courtesy to enquire about Bengal CM’s wellbeing after ‘attack’: TMC leader Partha Chatterjee

    Chatterjee further said the party has asked activists and supporters across the state to exercise restraint and not organise protests against the attack.

  • With Trivendra Rawat ouster, BJP sends a clear message to its Chief Ministers

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  By scripting the ouster of Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, the BJP appears to have sent out a signal that organisational feedback on performance will carry maximum importance. 

    Having identified preparations for the next Lok Sabha elections as the key challenge, BJP is now putting the spotlight on chief ministers in the party-ruled states.

    The BJP Parliamentary Board is learnt to have met on Friday, after the party’s Central Election Committee (CEC) meeting to approve the leadership change in Uttarakhand in the wake of dissent among the MLAs against the chief minister.

    The BJP leadership is keeping a close watch on the six states heading for Assembly elections next year, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah holding regular meetings.

    ALSO READ | Profile: From pracharak to CM, Trivendra Singh Rawat travelled a long way

    Besides Uttarakhand, the BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Goa and Manipur have Assembly elections next year. Rawat’s ouster is the first of a chief minister from the post after the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah to the top of the party leadership.

    “The BJP and its current leadership ignored adverse ground reports against Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan, Raman Singh in Chhattishgarh, Raghubar Das in Jharkhand, went to Assembly elections with them as the face of the party and lost the three states. That has changed and the chief ministers should now guard against disconnect with the people and MLAs,” said a senior BJP functionary.

    In the six states, the saffron outfit appears to be gearing up to work on a strategy to beat the anti-incumbency factor. They consider Congress to be the main rival and are unwilling to not yield ground to the opposition.

    ALSO READ | Uttarakhand CM Rawat’s resignation an eyewash to hide govt’s failures: Congress

    The BJP leadership is also learnt to be keeping an eye on Haryana, where Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar leads an alliance with Jananayak Janata Party (JJP) amid acknowledgement that Jat identity politics has got a fresh leash of live on the back of the farmers’ agitation against the contentious farm laws.

    CM’s resignation an eyewash, says Congress

    The Congress on Tuesday said the resignation of Trivendra Singh Rawat was an eyewash to hide the government’s “failures”, and urged the President to dismiss the BJP dispensation in the state Congress in-charge for Uttarakhand Devendra Yadav said the act shows the “admission” by the BJP of its government’s “failure” in fulfilling the aspirations of people of the state.

  • BJP leader urges Union Home Minister Amit Shah to enhance monthly relief to Kashmiri migrants

    By PTI
    JAMMU: JK BJP leader Ashwani Chrungoo urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to enhance the monthly relief provided to Kashmiri migrants from Rs 13,000 to Rs 20,000.

    “The price index has gone high a number of times over the last five years, and consequent price rise in almost all fields of public purchases has also touched new heights. This has disturbed the domestic budget of the displaced community of Kashmir. It has become very difficult for the relief holders among them to make both ends meet,” he said.

    Chrungoo, in-charge, Department of Political Affairs and Feedback, Jammu and Kashmir, requested that the relief amount per family per month be enhanced to Rs 20,000.

    “There are less than 22,000 relief holders who are dependent on the monthly relief. It would be a great gesture on behalf of the government to provide this sort of help to the relief holders on the auspicious occasion of Mahashivratri,” he said in a letter to the Union home minister.

    The BJP leader said overaged youth who could not be accomodated under the prime minister’s employment package need monetary assistance from the government to ensure their economic subsistence.

    “It can be done by means of monetary compensation, interest free loans and one-time working capital for creating new working business units that can earn profits in due course of time,” he said.

    “I also make an earnest request to announce a package of reservation of 4,000 jobs for the youth of the displaced community in the central government employment for posting in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.

  • BJP, allies agree on Assam seat-sharing after meet with Shah, Nadda; announcement soon

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The BJP and its two Assam allies — the AGP and the UPPL — on Wednesday “almost finalised” their seat-sharing pact for the Assam assembly polls and a formal announcement will be made in a day or two, sources said.

    The “agreement on 99 per cent” of the seats has been reached at a high-level meeting attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President J P Nadda, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at Shah’s residence, the sources said.

    BJP’s state unit chief Ranjit Dass, AGP President and state minister Atul Bora, UPPL chief Pramod Boro, BJP leader and state minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also attended the meeting.

    A formal announcement on the number of seats each party will contest will be made in a day or two, the sources said.

    While the AGP, which won 14 constituencies in the 2016 assembly elections, may get around 25 seats to contest, the UPPL, which is a new partner of the BJP and does not have any MLA now, is expected to get around 12 seats to contest, the sources said.

    The BJP, which had won 60 seats in 2016, will contest the rest of the constituencies.

    The BPF, which was part of the BJP-led alliance, had won 12 seats in 2016.

    The BPF is no longer an alliance partner of the BJP and the regional party had recently joined the opposition Congress-led ‘Mahajoot’.

    Assam has 126 assembly constituencies.

    After the joint meeting, the BJP leaders met separately at the residence of Nadda to scrutinise the list of the party’s candidates for the polls.

    The BJP Central Election Committee, comprising top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is likely to meet on Thursday to approve the first list of candidates.

    The three-phased Assam assembly polls will be held on March 27, April 1 and April 6.

    In the first phase, 47 constituencies will go for polls, in the second phase, polling will be held in 39 constituencies and in the third phase, polling will be held in 40 constituencies.

    The last date for filing nominations for the first phase is March 9, the last date for filing nominations for the second phase is March 12 and the last date for filing nominations for the third phase is March 19.

    While chief minister Sonowal’s Majuli and AGP president Bora’s Bokakhat constituencies will go for polling in the first phase, minister Sarma’s Jalukbari and Assam BJP chief Dass’ current seat Sarbhog will go for polling in the third phase.

    The UPPL president Boro is the chief executive member of the Bodoland Territorial Council, an autonomous body created under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, comprising the Bodo tribal dominated areas of Assam.