Prime Minister Narendra Modi held four consecutive rallies in West Bengal on Sunday. He started the day in Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency to campaign for BJP candidate Arjun Singh.
Modi’s second rally was in support of Locket Chatterjee in Hooghly and the third in support of Arup Kanti Digar at Arambagh. He held the last public meeting of the day in support of BJP candidate Rathin Chakraborty in Howrah Lok Sabha constituency.
In all four rallies, the excitement among the crowd to see the prime minister was palpable. BJP workers and supporters, who had gathered in large numbers in the meetings, were confident about sweeping the ongoing Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal.
Modi attacked the Trinamool Congress (TMC) over a host of issues including alleged corruption, appeasement politics, Sandeshkhali issue, polarisation, and infiltration.
About Sandeshkhali, the prime minister said, “Trinamool has started a new game with Sandeshkhali. Bombs and guns are being recovered from Sheikh Shahjahan’s house. Trinamool wants to save Shahjahan for vote bank. The whole country saw what happened in Sandeshkhali. Trinamool is intimidating the women of Sandeshkhali now.”
“The accused in Sandeshkhali case was first saved by Trinamool’s police. The name of the oppressor is Sheikh Shahjahan and that’s why they are trying to save him. Trinamool is trying to give him a clean chit,” Modi was seen saying in Barrackpore.
The prime minister, however, didn’t say anything about the recent videos that have surfaced debunking the issue of sexual exploitation of women in Sandeshkhali.
Modi claimed that only the BJP can develop India. He talked about “world-class infrastructure” built by the Centre in Bengal, pointing out the recently-inaugurated underwater metro connecting Howrah and Kolkata.
“Earlier, a railway budget of Rs 4,000 crore was allocated for West Bengal. Our government has allocated Rs 14,000 crore. We are making Shalimar and Santragachi stations world class,” he said in Howrah.
In Hooghly, the prime minister was seen getting emotional while receiving two pictures by two youths. In both the pictures, Modi was seen with his mother Heeraben who passed away in 2022.
“People in western countries celebrate this day as Mother's Day. But in India, we worship our mothers everyday. We worship Maa Durga, Maa Kali and Bharat Mata 365 days a year,” he said.
The prime minister also attacked the Congress and the INDIA bloc, saying they would take away reservations from SC, ST and OBC communities and give them completely to Muslims. He also attacked the Congress’s plan to do a wealth survey.
The Shahzada of the Congress wants to check the property of everyone in the country. He wants to check all your property and land and then wants to distribute it among those who does vote jihad for INDI alliance. He wants to take away your property. They [the opposition] want to bring inheritance tax. Congress also wants to give reservations of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes to Muslims,” the prime minister said.