Voter Turnout Makes Me Certain BJP Set for Landslide Victory in WB
"Violence was kept at a minimum in the last 50 years of poll history in Bengal. The information I have received so far makes me certain that this is going to be a mandate for a change," the PM said
Kolkata: Elated over the record voters' turnout in the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted on Thursday that the polling trend had set the “dawn for a change” in the state and would restrict the ruling Trinamul Congress from opening its accounts in some districts in the ongoing polls.
Modi, who addressed two campaign rallies for the second phase polling on April 29 and led a roadshow for the BJP candidates, also took a veiled swipe at TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for retaliating against him for savouring jhal muri in Jhargram recently. He sarcastically claimed that while he enjoyed the taste of the popular street food of Bengal, “some” felt a “thunderous shock” while their party got stung by the jhal (spice).
Referring to the massive polling in the first phase of the Bengal polls, the Prime Minister, at the Krishnanagar rally in Nadia, said, “This is the first time in the last 50 years that Bengal endured minimum violence during elections. Otherwise, people were hanged, and the deaths were passed off as suicide every week. A goonda raj used to prevail here. I congratulate the Election Commission for re-establishing democracy in Bengal. It is a big achievement of the EC to have ensured a peaceful polling here.”
“I have heard that polling that is underway is breaking all past records of the past. I can see the dawn for a change. This is the dawn for a change. Bhoy (fear) is disappearing. Bharosa (trust) is marching ahead…" Modi said, adding, "There has been so much public anger against TMC ministers, MLAs, local leaders and their syndicates that the TMC accounts will not open in some districts.”
Taking potshots at Banerjee indirectly over the popular snack in Bengal, Modi quipped with a smile, “I have even heard that jhal muri has given a thunderous shock to some people. While I savoured jhal muri, the TMC was stung by jhal.”
"Wherever polling was high, the BJP got a huge victory. In Bengal also, there will be a celebration of the BJP victory on May 4. Sweets and jhal muri will be distributed,” Modi added, referring to the counting day.
The Prime Minister also played the CAA card to woo the Matuas with an assurance to fast-track the implementation of the law to placate them.
Union home minister Amit Shah, who addressed two rallies in Hooghly and led a roadshow in North 24 Parganas after monitoring voting from a BJP war room in Salt Lake, also warned the TMC-backed miscreants not to step out of their homes during the second and final phase of Bengal polls on April 29.
The Union home minister claimed, “None of Didi's goons dared to raise fingers at the voters in the first phase of the polls. I'm warning them not to step out of their homes on April 29 also. The huge polling today reflects Didi's ouster from power."
