West Bengal Mamata Banerjee on Friday launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying that the party cannot be trusted and urging people to vote for the Trinamool Congress (TMC) to ensure
the state’s safety.
Addressing an election rally at Tentulia in North 24 Parganas district, she alleged that no agency in the country was neutral under the BJP government at the Centre as “the saffron party has bought them all”.
“Even a snake can be trusted, but not BJP. I am the candidate for TMC; vote for TMC if you want to keep the state safe,” she said.
CM Banerjee claimed that the BJP brought people from outside for the Assam elections as it was not confident of victory with the votes of the northeastern state’s residents.
“BJP brought people from outside to vote in Assam as it was not confident of victory with votes of state’s residents. A trainload of 50,000 people was brought to Assam from Uttar Pradesh,” Mamata added.
She also danced during the election campaign at Tetulia High School, North 24 Parganas.
Claiming that around 90 lakh names have been deleted from the electoral rolls during the SIR exercise in West Bengal, the chief minister said, “Names of 90 lakh people have been removed (through SIR). All agencies of the country are one-sided. BJP has brought them all.”
The TMC chief said that out of 90 lakhs 60 lakh are Hindus and 30 lakh are Muslims. She said that the BJP should never be trusted, claiming that in the NRC exercise in Assam, out of 19 lakh names delisted, 13 lakh were Hindus and 6 lakh were Muslims.
Elections to the 126-member Assam Assembly were held in a single phase on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Friday also reacted sharply to the BJP’s manifesto for the West Bengal Assembly elections, criticising the party’s promises on national security and infiltration.
In a post on X, the TMC termed the BJP’s “crackdown on infiltration” promise as a “jumla” and attacked Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s tenure, alleging a “complete, catastrophic failure” over the past seven years.
The party also questioned the absence of verified data on alleged foreign infiltrators in Bengal after electoral verification exercises, and raised concerns over recent terror incidents, including the Pahalgam attack that killed 26 tourists and a blast in Delhi linked to a terror module operating from Faridabad.
Voting for the 294-member Assembly in West Bengal will take place in two phases on April 23 and April 29, while counting of votes is scheduled for May 4.
