Kolkata: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday made a string of promises to West Bengal government employees and job seekers at a Bharatiya Janata Party rally, stating these would be implemented within days if his party wins the coming assembly polls.
“Government employees across India receive salaries recommended by the 7th Pay Commission. Ony Bengal government employees are still under the 6th Pay Commission. If you help us win, the 7th Pay Commission will be enforced here in 45 days,” Shah said at a BJP Parivartan Yatra (rally for change) in South 24 Parganas district where BJP could not secure a single seat in the 2021 assembly polls.
“This is your last chance to do what you want,” Shah told party supporters.
“Mamata Banerjee is only concerned about Abhishek Banerjee. She wants to make him the chief minister. This is their practice,” said Shah, naming some leaders from other opposition parties – such as Congress and DMK – whose fathers were well-known politicians.
“Your (people in the audience) names cannot appear in TMC’s candidate list. BJP is the only party that does not indulge in dynastic politics. It must end,” he added.
“We will fill all vacant posts in two months and restore the posts against which appointments have been stopped. Young people waited for years for jobs and many have crossed the age-limit. They will get a five-year relaxation. The process will start by December 26,” Shah added.
BJP’s national leaders launched the first four Parivartan Yatras on Sunday. Five more were launched on Monday.
“By Parivartan we don’t mean changing the chief minister. That job will be done by the people. Our concept of change means driving out corruption and infiltrators. Shouldn’t our borders be protected? Shouldn’t women be safe and law and order restored?” Shah said, as he repeatedly took swipes at the Trinamool Congress and chief minister Mamata Banerjee on these issues.
“The communists squeezed Bengal and TMC pushed it into the dungeon of poverty. Now it is time to build Sonar Bangla (a golden Bengal) envisioned by Rabindranath Tagore. Can Mamata Banerjee and bhaipo (nephew) do it?” Shah said, without naming Abhishek Banerjee.
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“I promise that no Hindu refugee will lose citizenship. Didi has done nothing but appease infiltrators from Bangladesh. We set up the Ram Mandir, Kashi Viswanath corridor and the Mahakal corridor. You (Banerjee) did nothing all this while and now you are setting up temples. I welcome it. But what is the Babri Masjid meant for?” Shah said, referring to the mosque resembling Ayodhya’s Babri Masjid that suspended TMC MLA Humayun Kabir is building in Murshidabad district.
“Humayun Kabir and Mamata Didi are part of the same coin. Mamata Banerjee hatched the idea of expelling Kabir and making him construct the masjid. Both Hindus and Muslims have realised what sort of a person Mamata Banerjee is,” Shah said.
At a similar Parivartan Yatra in Howrah, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh also focused on infiltration.
“Why is Mamata Banerjee not taking action against infiltrators. Why shouldn’t the borders be secure?” Singh said.
The TMC countered Shah’s allegations about dynastic politics by posting graphics showing BJP leaders whose fathers were in politics. BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, whose father Sisir Adhikari, was a TMC Lok Sabha member, was mentioned in the list.
TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said: “Shah seemed desperate because he knows very well that Mamata Banerjee will not only return to power but break CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu’s record.”
Basu became Bengal’s chief minister in 1977 and served for 23 years before stepping down in 2000. Banerjee, on the other hnad, is completing her third five-year term.
