West Bengal Assembly Election 2021: Prime Minister Narendra Modi Campaigns in Bengal (PTI)
Calcutta:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today used his constituency of Lok Sabha, Varanasi, to make the “external” comment from the Trinamool Congress on the BJP bounce off Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s party.
One of Trinamool’s main weapons deployed in the West Bengal campaign was to identify the BJP as a non-state party. Ms Banerjee in her attacks on Prime Minister Modi has often warned that the BJP would “destroy the culture of Bengal.” The Trinamool had also said that Banerjee would contest the next general elections in Varanasi, in response to Prime Minister Modi asking if he would fight from another seat, besides Nandigram, due to “insecurity” in the Bengal elections.
Even at a rally at North 24 Parganas today, Ms. Banerjee overruled the “outsider” label her party has attached to the BJP. “BJP wants to divide Bengal … These people want to end Bengal, their language, their culture,” said Ms Banerjee, in a wheelchair caring for her leg in a cast. “I ask all the brothers and sisters of the minorities not to allow their division of votes,” he said.
At another rally about 60 km from where Ms Banerjee was addressing a rally, Prime Minister Modi replied: “Didi is now looking for a place outside. Welcome to Varanasi. There is a ship going from Haldia to Varanasi. One thing moreover, the people of my Benaras have such a big heart that they will not call them a tourist or a stranger. They have a heart as big as the people of Bengal, “said the Prime Minister.
“In Varanasi, you will find many people with tilak, saying Jai Shri Ram. Didi, then what will happen to you? Who will you get angry with?” said the Prime Minister, adding: “Do not be angry with the people of Benaras. They will live with you. They will not let you go to Delhi. They will keep you there.”
Prime Minister Modi won the Lok Sabha elections twice from Varanasi in 2014 and 2019.
During the campaign for the general election in May 2019, Ms Banerjee was greeted by the slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” as she drove to a city in Bengal. He was passing some supporters lined up along the street when slogans of “Jai Shri Ram” were shouted.
The Trinamool head of Congress immediately lowered her car window and asked the driver to stop. Then she got out and asked those lifting the slogans to come talk to her. But they fled. Ms. Banerjee muttered her favorite term “Haridas” under her breath and left. Although Haridas Pal is the name of a fictional character who was considered cultured and noble, Bengalis use it to poke fun at those suffering from delusions of grandeur.
In February, Interior Minister Amit Shah criticized Ms Banerjee over the slogan, saying that she will start chanting it herself when the assembly elections are over.
.
