Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday referred to Bangladeshi actors’ campaign for Trinamul to invoke the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and demand that Mamata Banerjee give an account of infiltrators in Bengal.
Modi cited “reports” from the first two phases of elections — five constituencies of Bengal voted in them — to say they were giving “Speedbreaker Didi sleepless nights”. The Prime Minister had said at an April 3 meeting in Siliguri that Mamata was a “speedbreaker” to development.
“The reports of elections in the first two phases have put brakes on the sleep of Speedbreaker Didi. On May 23 (counting day), she will realise the consequences. People here will no longer allow her misrule,” Modi told a rally in South Dinajpur’s Buniadpur.
He accused the chief minister of “bringing in people from other countries for campaigns”. “Did it ever happen in India that people from other countries campaigned in the polls of our country? Didi has done it for her vote bank.”
Modi was here to canvass for BJP candidates in Balurghat, Malda North and Malda South where elections will be held on April 23. Buniadpur is part of the Balurghat seat.
In Bengal, BJP and Trinamul have traded barbs over NRC and the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill leaders in the current election campaign.
Mamata has accused Modi and the BJP of trying to drive residents out of the country while referring to Assam where 40 lakh people have not found their names in the NRC. BJP leaders, including the Prime Minister and party chief Amit Shah, have justified the NRC, saying it is required to identify and evict infiltrators and vowing to launch a similar exercise in Bengal.
On Saturday, Modi renewed the BJP theme of linking infiltrators to terror. “In Bengal, there was a blast at (Burdwan’s) Khagragarh (in 2014) and attempts were made to stop its probe. Such people who acted as deterrents in the investigation will not be able to tackle terrorism… people like Didi takes a stand on terrorism only after considering their vote bank,” Modi said, obliquely playing the polarisation card and referring to the blast blamed on Bangladesh terror outfits.
The air strikes in Pakistan’s Balakot came up next, with the Prime Minister slamming Mamata for having demanded evidence of the action. “She should instead find evidence for those who were involved in chit fund scams…. also proof about infiltrators should be collected,” Modi said at his fourth rally in Bengal.
Bengal contest plea
BJP leader Mukul Roy said the party’s Bengal unit had requested Modi to contest from a Lok Sabha seat in the state. “We have expressed our desire that Modiji should contest from any Lok Sabha seat in Bengal this time…. He has not said anything but we hope he will keep our request,” Roy said in Buniadpur.
