Mamata didn't attend Ram temple consecration to not offend her 'infiltrator' vote bank: Shah

Addressing a rally at Memari in Purba Bardhaman district, Shah said this Lok Sabha election is about deciding whether people want "parivar raj" or "Ram rajya" in the country.

"For years, people of our country and Ram devotees wanted a Ram temple to be built in Ayodhya. But the Congress, TMC and the communists didn't want it. Invitations for the consecration ceremony were sent to both Mamata didi and her nephew (Abhishek Banerjee), but they did not attend it, as she was afraid that infiltrators, who are her party's vote bank, might get offended," he said.

Banerjee had accused the BJP of trying to politicise a religious event by attempting to put up a "gimmick show" ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.

Shah alleged that the opposition is entangled in corruption and dynastic politics, which stand against the very idea of India.
The union home minister accused Banerjee and her nephew of unleashing atrocities on BJP workers, sensing that their "farewell from the seat of power" is imminent.

"Both Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek are scared of the BJP. Owing to this insecurity, they do not allow our leaders to book hotels and get cars. Even if the hotels get booked, TMC goons vacate those. I want to tell her that BJP workers are not perturbed by this," Shah asserted.

"This election is also about deciding whether you want the nephew as chief minister of West Bengal or Narendra Modi as prime minister of India, he said.

Shah also accused Banerjee of "misleading" people on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and "welcoming" infiltrators for vote bank politics.

"Why is she against refugees obtaining citizenship? She is supporting infiltration in Bengal, but opposes Hindu refugees getting citizenship," he said.
Banerjee had recently claimed that if the opposition bloc INDIA comes to power, of which the TMC is a part at the national level, it would repeal the CAA by bringing in a new law in Parliament.

Shah, referring to the neighbouring state of Assam, claimed the BJP, after coming to power in 2016, had solved the "perennial problem of infiltration".

"In Bengal, too, only the BJP can end the menace of infiltration," he said.

The home minister also said it is the BJP that can end the TMC's "rule of corruption and cut money" in West Bengal.

On the incidents in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district, where allegations of sexual abuse against TMC leaders have emerged, Shah said it is a matter of shame that "Mamata Banerjee, despite being a woman chief minister, tried to protect the culprits".

"For years, atrocities continued under her rule. To get some votes through appeasement, you are protecting the criminals of Sandeshkhali. The BJP will punish these culprits," he asserted.

Shah accused the chief minister of maintaining a stoic silence to carry on TMC's "vote bank politics".

The senior BJP leader said the party has set a target of winning 30-plus Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.

"Give Modi ji more than 30 seats from Bengal, and he will ensure that people here get free medical treatment of Rs 5 lakh each," he said.

"Mamata Didi is criticizing the CBI and ED for conducting raids in Bengal. But she has to answer why crores of rupees were recovered from the houses of your ministers.

Around Rs 51 crore was recovered from the house of one minister. Shouldn't those corrupt be put behind bars? Mamata didi, you can scream and shout as much as you want, but those who have looted the money of the poor should be sent to jail," he said.

Criticising the TMC's resistance to central projects in Bengal, Shah accused the state government of not producing utilization certificates of the funds sent by the Centre.

Responding to Shah's charges, the TMC claimed them politically motivated.

"Let the Centre come out with a white paper on the amount of funds that was sent by it in the last three years. The central government has withheld funds of the state out of political vendetta," TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said.

He also said that it is the job of the BSF, which comes under the Union Home Ministry, to secure the country's borders and check infiltration.

"If infiltration is taking place, Amit Shah being the Home Minister of the country should take moral responsibility for it," Ghosh said.