Modi slams Left & Third Front, goes soft on Mamata in his first West Bengal rally

Kolkata: Making his debut in West Bengal in the current campaign, Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a blistering attack on the Left parties and the Third Front, saying they will make India a 'third rate' country.

Addressing a big rally, he blew hot and cold against Trinamool Congress and its leader Mamata Banerjee apparently in a bid to woo her post elections.

Trying to strike a chord with the people of Bengal, he accused the Congress of denying Pranab Mukherjee, now President, the prime minister's post in 2004 even though he 'deserved' the chair.

Modi was severe in his criticism of the Left parties and their partners, saying they have destroyed the eastern region of the country by their rule while western India has shown progress because they had never ruled that region.

"These people (Left and its associates) who do politics in the name of secularism practice the politics of vote-bank by misleading Muslims. They destroyed the eastern region. You must banish them from the Indian politics forever," he said in a speech interspersed with some sentences in Bengali.

The BJP's prime ministerial candidate was critical of Banerjee in the beginning, asking people if the promised 'poribartan (change)' had come and do they feel whether things have changed.

"People are still waiting for it." However, later he softened, saying 'you have elected government under Banerjee after the assembly elections'. 

He said people can experiment by electing BJP candidates in all the 42 Lok Sabha seats.

"Let TMC do the job in the state and BJP in the Centre," he said.

"Bengal has always given direction to the country. You elect BJP candidates from all Lok Sabha seats. TMC government will do its job here. You hold them accountable for the work in the state and me for the work in the country. Let there be competition.... West Bengal government alone cannot change the state's fate. You will need Delhi's help as well.

"It will be a win-win situation for you with me at the Centre, Mamata Banerjee in the state and Pranab da to supervise us," he said.

Modi reserved his sharpest barbs for the Left parties, which are also Banerjee's foremost rivals, and their allies. He said they come together before elections and remember the poor and sing paeans to secularism.

"The Third Front's intention is to make the country third rate," he said.

Accusing them of spreading 'canards' against Gujarat, he said the per-capita income among Muslims is the highest in the state. There were over 37,000 applicants for 4,800 seats allotted to the state under the Haj quota while Bengal had only 12,000 applicants for 11,600 seats, he said.

Congress, he said, first denied Mukherjee the PM's post in 1984 after Indira Gandhi's assassination when he was the senior-most Cabinet minister and Rajiv Gandhi even dropped him from his Cabinet.

"When Sonia Gandhi declined to become PM in 2004, it was natural that Pranab da should have been given the opportunity but he was denied again," he said.

Modi invoked Bengali greats like Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore and Subhash Chandra Bose to connect with the crowd and paraphrased Bose's famous slogan to tell people 'tum mujhe saath do, main tume suraj dunga (You give me help, I will give you good governance)'.

"Vivekanand dreamt of India becomi g the 'jagadguru' (world leader). India was the world leader centuries ago. But we forget that it happened when Bengal was the nation's leader.... You must take the lead and vote for a party which can transform Bengal once again," he said.

He also raked up the issue of Bangladesh residents living illegally in the state, saying they were denying the jobs to Indian youth and cornering resources meant for Indians. Quoting figures, he said West Bengal has become a laggard state and asked people to turn around its fortune by voting for him. 

Next: No 'gyan' needed from Modi who did not spare his 'guru': Cong

No 'gyan' needed from Modi who did not spare his 'guru': Cong

New Delhi: Stung by his charge that Pranab Mukherjee was twice denied opportunity to become PM, Congress on Wednesday reminded Narendra Modi of the "humiliating" treatment meted out to elders in BJP and said he was no one to give lessons as he "had not spared even his guru L K Advani".

Information and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari said it was unfortunate that Modi had sought "to drag" the office of President into political discourse for scoring political brownie points.

"Instead of giving 'gyan' and lessons to Congress and others on how to respect elders, Modi should look within and even now correct himself after self-introspection," party spokesman Randeep Surjewala told the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate in a sharp retort.

Tewari said the President is a symbol of Indian state and is supposed to be above partisan politics - a decorum that has been maintained.

"But unfortunately in Chief Minister of Gujarat, you see a tendency that to score political brownie points inorder to take a partisan potshot, he does not even spare the office of the President of India.

"I think its extremely unfortunate that the Chief Minister of Gujarat has sought to trample constitutional propriety by dragging the august office of the President of India into a political discourse," he told reporters here.

Lamenting that Modi has levelled allegations against this nature on Gandhi family, Surjewala said that the President had been "one of the most experienced politicians in public life.

"Congress party has been enriched by his wisdom, years of experience and adminstrative acumen and he has served the Congress in many positions from senior most members of Congress Working Committee, general secretay and in several ministerial positions for decades working with Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao, Sitaram Kesri and Sonia Gandhi."

Recalling how Modi treated Keshubhai Patel, Sanjay Joshi, Haren Pandya, Advani and "many others", he said that the the Gujarat Chief Minister's remarks about Mukherjee's relationship with Congress reflects the "real nature of BJP's self appointed PM candidate".

"Modi conveniently forgot Keshubhai Patel, who was not only one time Chief Minister of Gujarat but also one of the most senior leaders. The manner in which Modi humiliated him and threw him out of not only Chief Ministerhsip but also BJP. The way, he behaved with Harin Pandya is known to one and all.

"The kind of treatment BJP and particularly Modi meted out to their senior leaders is also well-known.... Their patriarch and guru L K Advani had to resign from all party posts and go into hibernation (kop bhavan)," Surjewala said.

He said Modi's statement on Mukherjee is in line with his habit of ridiculing important individuals and posts and that he had "not spared even his guru Advani".