Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday played the majoritarian card to polarise the Bengal elections, alleging that the Mamata Banerjee government wasn’t allowing people to chant “Jai Shri Ram” and imposing restrictions on Durga Puja celebrations.
Ajay Mohan Bisht, also known as Yogi Adityanath, attacked the Trinamul Congress government over law and order in Bengal, but didn’t refer to the killing of a sexual assault survivor’s father allegedly by the prime accused in his state on Monday.
“The law and order in Bengal is in a shambles. Cattle rustling and cross-border smuggling have become commonplace and police and the administration do not take steps against criminals…. Even women aren’t spared. Any government that can’t ensure the safety of women and residents of the state as a whole should not be in power even for a day,” the Hindutva poster boy told a gathering of 30,000-odd people at the College Ground in Gazole of Malda
“If the BJP is voted to power, we will stop cattle slaughtering and will close down all illegal abattoirs within 24 hours. Cattle smuggling would also be stopped,” he added.
His criticism of the Mamata government prompted questions from her party.
“Even as he was making these statements, that astounding crime took place at Hathras in UP,” said Bengal minister Tapas Roy, referring to the Monday incident, in which a person residing at a village under the Sasni police station of Hathras had been gunned down by a local youth, who is accused of molesting his daughter in 2018. The victim had filed the police complaint against Gaurav Sharma, the accused, who was arrested and was later released on bail.
“There is an element of tragic hilarity to this, when someone like Adityanath makes such statements in Bengal,” said Roy.
The Hindutva hardliner, deemed a favourite of the Sangh parivar right after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, predictably peppered his speech with communal, inflammatory elements that the saffron ecosystem thrives on.
“The Trinamul government here gets agitated if someone chants ‘Jai Sri Ram’. They can’t stop people from chanting it. Also, obstructions are created here for festivals like Durga Puja, unlike in UP, where all the festivals are celebrated with equal vigour and enthusiasm,” said Adityanath, who also brought up contentious concepts of the saffron camp, such as “Love Jihad” and the controversial legislation in his state against it.
Malda, a district with around 55 per cent of the people from a minority community, has 12 Assembly seats, with minority votes being decisive in six to seven.
Senior minister and Trinamul veteran Subrata Mukherjee said: “First of all, as recently as 2020, the Uttar Pradesh government had imposed restrictions on Durga Puja, while in Bengal, there were so many — as usual — that Calcutta, for instance, came to a standstill for days. Who here takes a man like that seriously anyway?”
“People here haven’t ever seen a so-called monk who is also a chief minister. Some go to check him out, because of that. If he pays a visit somewhere close to me, I too might go, simply because of that. Does that mean I will be influenced by what he has to say?” asked Mukherjee.
