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Barrackpore/Hooghly (West Bengal):
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday slammed the “vote bank” politics of the Trinamool Congress and alleged that the party’s goons are threatening the tormented women of Sandeshkhali, where allegations of sexual abuse against TMC leaders have surfaced, to protect the culprits.
Without mentioning 53-year-old Rahul Gandhi by name, he also claimed that the Congress will get fewer seats than the age of its ‘shehzada’ Lok Sabha polls across the country.
While addressing an election rally at Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district, PM Modi alleged that under the TMC rule, Hindus have turned into second-class citizens in the state and asserted that “as long as Modi is there, no one can repeal the CAA law.”
“All of us have seen what the TMC has done with the sisters and mothers of Sandeshkhali. The TMC goons are now threatening the women in Sandeshkhali as the name of the main culprit is Shajahan Sheikh. TMC is doing everything to protect the culprits of Sandeshkhali,” he said.
His remarks come in the backdrop of multiple purported videos surfacing on social media, which claimed that a local BJP party leader made several women of Sandeshkhali sign on blank papers which were later filled up as complaints of sexual assault against TMC leaders.
The prime minister, however, did not directly refer to those videos.
PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of those videos, which has kept the state’s political cauldron on the boil for the last few days.
Claiming that under the TMC regime, Bengal has turned into a centre of corruption and a “cottage industry of bomb-making”, PM Modi said the state’s ruling dispensation has surrendered before the vote bank politics.
“The TMC has surrendered before vote bank politics in Bengal, where you cannot take the name of Shri Ram and neither can celebrate Ram Navami. The Hindus have been turned into second-class citizens in Bengal under the TMC rule,” he said.
Later in another rally in Hooghly, “This time the Congress would get fewer seats than the age of its Shehzada (Rahul Gandhi).” The Congress leader is in his early fifties.
Last week, the Prime Minister had said that in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Congress’s tally will be at an “all-time low”.
“The TMC also cannot form the government; it can’t do anything in opposition even. The Congress and the Left too can’t form the government. Only the BJP-led NDA can provide you with a stable and strong government,” he said.
Criticising the “appeasement politics” of the INDIA bloc, PM Modi claimed that Congress and its other constituents are making disjointed statements sensing defeat.
“They have lost their sleep after the construction of Ram Mandir. These people have boycotted the Ram Mandir as well. The souls of our ancestors who struggled for 500 years to get the Ram Mandir are watching your deeds. TMC and Congress people, at least do not insult the penance and sacrifice of your ancestors. Boycotting Lord Ram is not the culture of Bengal,” he said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
