Didi even called me 'shala', "Khooni Ka Raja", PM Modi complains to Bengal voters
Gangarampur/Asansol : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, April 17, virtually lodged a complaint with the people and voters of West Bengal stating that Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, has used many slang and un-parliamentary words against him.
"I am sorry, I am repeating these words with much regrets. I should not be saying these. I am seeking forgiveness from people of Bengal who are cultured....Didi said 'Shala', You are Khooni Ka raja," Prime Minister said referring to Mamata's March 25 speech at an election rally.
Modi also complained that Mamata had expressed reservation about his growing beard and that there is something wrong in my brain. "A person who was Chief Minister in this state for 10 years, says there is some problem in my brains (Modi's)," the Prime Minister said.
Modi usually does not react to abusive words and phrases used against him by rival politicians on regular and daily basis. Even in the past, the Prime Minister had used these abusive words and phrases on various election campaign and on most occasions, he has reaped political dividends and things have boomeranged on Congress and other party leaders.
The classic illustrations is of 2007 Sonia Gandhi's describing him as 'Maut Ka Saudagar'. In 2017 also in the run to the Gujarat state assembly polls, Congress leader Manishanker Aiyer's "neech" remark against the Prime Minister was also used by the BJP in the campaign. Realising the blunder, Rahul Gandhi had even ordered suspension of Manishanker Aiyer.
In this year's election the vitriolic attacks from Mamata against Modi has often made headlines.
Only a few days back, Trinamool Congress supremo had said, "...money does not matter much to me. Therefore, when he says we are Tolabaaz (extortionist), I feel I should give him a proper slap".
The West Bengal CM at a rally in Siliguri also described Modi as 'Covid'.
Earlier, in his address at Asansol, the Prime Minister asserted that Chief Minister Mamata will be handed over the certificate of 'ex-Chief Minister' on May 2.
He also claimed that the TMC has been splintered in the first four phases of elections, and that Mamata Banerjee and her lawmaker nephew Abhishek would be 'vanquished' by the end of polling.
The Prime Minister also that the Trinamool chief has an old habit of doing politics with 'dead bodies' and that she tried to politicise the "unfortunate" death of five people at Sitalkuchi in Cooch Behar on April 10.
He referred to the audio tape that has gone viral. The tape shows Mamata Banerjee allegedly instructing a party colleague that a rally should be brought out with the slain four bodies of those who were killed in central force firing.
Voices resembling Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Cooch Behar district president Partha Pratim Roy, who is also the party's candidate for Sitalkuchi, are heard on tape discussing deaths of four persons in firing by central forces.
"The truth is that Didi thought of her own political gain from the death of people in Cooch Behar she has an old habit of doing politics with dead bodies," Mr Modi alleged.
Mamata 'expanded' OBC list of Muslims, ensured 'more' Muslim MLAs leaving Hindus aggrieved
Slogans need not make much difference to voters in West Bengal. The people are politically sensitive enough and they know that the real issue is not any battle between 'Sonar Bangla' of BJP and 'Jai Bangla' of Trinamool Congress.
Mamata gave Kolkata the first Muslim mayor since independence, she also ensured bigger number of Muslim legislators; but things might have boomeranged today.
The real issue could be much more fundamental. The real issue is being 'West Bengal' or turn the state into 'West Bangladesh'. Such declaration may not be exaggeration actually because Trinamool leaders had termed 'Muslims' as 'milching-cows' in terms of vote garnering mechanism.
The BJP has raised the 'minority appeasement' bogie to its hilt. The appeal against pro-Muslim tilt of the Mamata regime and also their predecessors certainly found resonance because it fed on mounting public revulsion.
Mamata has advantage of the support of Muslim voters; but will they continue to oblige her ? If so, why so much hype about the role of Abbas Siddiqui and his newly floated party ?
Notably, the BJP is not running any extra mile to woo Bengali Muslims - something unlike its electoral strategies in other states. Rather there is an interesting phenomenon, the Hindutva card of the BJP has forced Mamata Banerjee chant Hindu Mantras and visit temples.
She has gone a step - actually 'reverse' manner. As against 2016, the Trinamool supremo has cut down the number of Muslim candidates by one-third.
In this year's elections, it is being estimated that even a 4-5 percent swing in the Muslim vote bank against Trinamool or even 'drop' in the voters turnout could end up Mamata's game.
And if BJP leaders like Dilip Ghosh are to be believed, this has already happened.
When the mandate for 2019 Lok Sabha polls came in, there was a major shocker for 'champion' of secularism, Mamata Banerjee. The BJP had wrested as many as 18 seats out of 42. Five years back, the BJP tally was two and that included Darjeeling - where it was the Nepali/Gorkha voters who reposed faith in a Sikh gentleman called S S Ahluwalia.
Another Bengali leader to win his seat in Asansol was a playback singer-turned-neta Babul Supriyo. His victory was more seen as a salutation to the 'celebrity power' and that Bengali voters had not started reposing faith in the BJP.
But the saffron party's vote share had increased to 16.8 making a jump from negligible 6.1 in 2009. In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP's share of vote count stood at around 10 per cent. In 2019, this vote share jumped to 40.3 - a bit shortfall of 43.3 percent of Mamata Banerjee's outfit.
These statistics do really reflect the political dynamism and what has gone through in voters' mind all these years.
It is true, the Hindus have historically not thought of themselves as a single community or nation. Bengali Hindus are no exception. Hindus are never a monolith; Bengalis too are not. They differ in the languages they speak, the beliefs and also the deities they worship. Of course, different rituals and varying customs make their lives. But this was made a 'weakness' and the political class have sought only to ignore them or take their 'liberalism' for granted. Leftists thrived for years despite blatant anti-Hindu stance and then the benefit of appeasing Muslims went to Mamata.
The Muslims, however, did not benefit much in terms of education and other social indicators, but 'appeasement' as a policy flourished under both the communists and the Trinamool Congress. Under Mamata Banerjee, even skull cap wearing bike riders were allowed to violate traffic rules.
Mamata Banerjee gave Kolkata its first Muslim mayor in independent India in 2018. There were other appeasement policies -bringing in numerous Muslims under 'OBC list'. All these definitely left 'Hindus' aggrieved as they were deprived and betrayed.
Muslims rewarded Didi. The vote share among Muslims in the Lok Sabha elections for Mamata's outfit simply jumped from 40 per cent in 2014 to staggeringly high 70 per cent in 2019.
The anxiety of the 'bhadralok' increased manifold as Mamata added 96 Muslim communities in the OBC list and even the OBC reservation quota was increased from 10 to 17.
The Middle class Hindu voters started looking for alternatives.
At times, Mamata's 'pro-Muslim tilt' even surprised senior Trinamool leaders and a few of them had warned that things could one day boomerang. The number of Muslim teachers in universities in West Bengal 'doubled' from what was in 2013 and what it stood by 2018-19.
If Hindus have a weakness of not voting on religious line as a bloc. The Muslims though abundantly have voted as a bloc, they also get carried away at times. The entry of Indian Secular Front of Abbas Siddiui has created a fear among Mamata and her party that split in Muslim votes would ultimately help the BJP. This desperation has made her appeal to the Muslim voters to unite. Of course, she got an EC notice for the same.
The Muslim voters and even sitting Muslim representatives are at crossroads. In the state assembly, Muslim representation increased to about 20 per cent in 2016. Mamata had herself give tickets to 52 Muslim candidates in 2016.
On February 28, the CPI(M)-led Left Front and Congress organised a major campaign rally in Kolkata’s popular Brigade Parade Grounds. The biggest star attraction was ISF chief Abbas Siddiqui and on the very stage, difference between ISF and Congress party came to the fore. So Muslims are certainly important stakeholders in the elections.
The 'sickular' and intellectual mindset are playing the fear mongering that the pluralist idea of West Bengal would be threatened.
Little did they admit that the Hindu polarization is taking place only after years of minority appeasement. Even Mamata's poll strategist Prashant Kishor admits this phenomenon in Bengal politics.
Master Plan for Cooch Behar rigging
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has alleged that chief minister Mamata Banerjee had actually hatched a “master plan” to rig the polls on April 10 in Sitalkuchi.
“Friends, facing her own defeat, now Didi (Mamata) has a new war strategy. It is Didi’s conspiracy by which the Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and OBC…nobody will be allowed to vote. It is her conspiracy that people from these groups are stopped from voting and her goons cast false votes. (It is) openly being said that Trinamul’s people will ‘gherao’ central forces and other supporters of Didi will enter (the booth) and cast false votes. Rumours are that what happened in Cooch Behar was a part of Didi’s false-vote masterplan,” Modi said in Kalyani.
At a rally in Burdwan, Modi held Mamata responsible for the death of a police officer from Bihar who was allegedly lynched in North Dinajpur.
Ashwini Kumar, the station officer of Kishanganj had gone to neighbouring Panthapara village in connection with a bike-theft case filed at his police station. He was allegedly lynched there. His mother died of shock.
Trinamool leaders have virtually sought to ignore the gory episode completely.
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| Blogger at EVM foolproof Demonstration by EC |
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