‘Give Modi a chance,' Shah urges Bengal voters from rally

Kolkata: Union home minister Amit Shah on Sunday took off from where PM Narendra Modi had ended his first Bengal poll campaign speech on Thursday, signalling BJP's twin strategy for the 2026 assembly election in Bengal: Focus on and retain its core Hindu-nationalist votes while trying to chip away at TMC's female support base.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
Shah addressed BJP's 'Vijay Sankalpa Karyakarta Sammelan' at Netaji Indoor Stadium on Sunday, three days after PM Modi addressed a public rally in north Bengal's Alipurduar. While reaching out to the the women voters in Bengal, Shah said, "Bengal's women will not tolerate any insult to sindoor," and urged them with "folded hands" to give Modi a chance and form a govt of true "deshbhakts".
Shah then took aim at Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, claiming that she had been pained when Operation Sindoor was on and "hundreds of terrorists were being killed".
"It would have been better if she felt the pain when Bengalis were killed. She didn't utter a word then," he said. Shah alleged that Banerjee had tried to oppose "Operation Sindoor" and "play with the emotions of crores of women in India". "She wanted to appease her Muslim vote bank.
Mamata can support Pakistan-sponsored terrorists, but we haven't finished Operation Sindoor," the home minister added. He then urged the women voters to "make her (CM Banerjee) understand the value of sindoor in the next election."
"Bengal has guided the entire nation — be it in knowledge, science, spirituality, or the freedom struggle. For years, Bengal led India in every field. But then came the rule of the Communists, and after that, Mamatadidi took charge with the slogan of 'Ma, Mati, Manush'. She has now turned this great land of Bengal into a hub of infiltration, corruption, atrocities on women, crimes, bomb blasts and injustices against Hindus," Shah added and said the Banerjee-led govt's time was up.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
"During elections and even after Didi's victory, hundreds of BJP workers have been brutally killed. Didi, how long will you hide them? Mark my words — your time is over. In 2026, BJP govt is coming to office in Bengal," he went on to say.
The home minister asked the CM as to what she had done for Bengal. "Under UPA, Bengal received Rs 2.09 lakh crore. Under Modiji, Bengal received Rs 8.27 lakh crore in 10 years. We have a list of every single development work.
BJP will release this list. But this money didn't reach the villages—it was looted by the TMC syndicate. Even if Modiji sends Rs 50 lakh crore, it won't reach the people unless BJP is in power here. To get Modiji's benefits and homes, you must bring a BJP govt in Bengal," Shah said.
Calling the violence at Murshidabad "state-sponsored riot", Shah said, "state govt did not seek help from BSF despite repeated alerts from us.
Finally, BSF intervened only after the court's order. Meanwhile, Trinamool netas have been accusing BSF and encouraging the rioters. The way a minister was involved, it was nothing but a state-sponsored riot." he said. Attacking the CM again, Shah said: "She opposed the waqf amendments.
Who was she trying to protect?"
Shah underlined the "increase" in BJP's support base in Bengal from 77 assembly seats in 2021 to a lead in 97 assembly segments in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"In 143 seats, we secured more than 40% votes. We are not behind by much. We will have to increase our vote shares only by 4-5%. Didi's deposit will be forfeited in her own seat if she dares to conduct elections free of violence and rigging. We will not say zindabad till a BJP CM takes oath after the 2026 polls," Shah told the workers.
In his 33-minute speech, Shah listed out alleged scams and corruption cases in Bengal and said that jobs of the state's youths were being sold. He claimed that in Sandeshkhali and RG Kar incidents, the CM stayed silent to appease her vote bank. Tribal and backward communities had been left out and Gorkhas were being harassed for not voting for TMC, he said, claiming no one was happy in Bengal. He promised that if voted to power, no Gorkhas will face "political vendetta".
Mentioning Centre's efforts to give classical language status to Bengali, Shah assured that Hindu refugees, whose names were being deleted from voters' list, need not worry and should apply for citizenship under CAA.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Business Standard

41 minutes ago

• Business Standard

T'gana govt to hold event for transferring Rs 9,000 cr payout to farmers

The Telangana government will hold a public function in Hyderabad to mark the transfer of about Rs 9,000 crore to farmers' accounts in just nine days under the 'Rythu Bharosa' investment support scheme, state Agriculture Minister Tummala Nageswara Rao said. The event, which will be attended by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and his cabinet colleagues, will take place on Tuesday evening near the Rajiv Gandhi statue outside the Telangana Secretariat complex, Rao added. The minister, who reviewed the arrangements for the event with officials on Monday, said Rs 9,000 crore has been transferred to farmers' accounts ahead of the monsoon to ensure they have funds to carry out agricultural activities. Recalling the farm loan waiver of Rs 70,000 crore during the UPA regime led by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Rao said the present Congress government has already spent Rs 21,000 crore on loan waivers. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy launched the disbursal of funds under the 'Rythu Bharosa' scheme on June 16. He had announced that the government would transfer Rs 9,000 crore in nine days under the scheme, despite economic challenges. The 'Rythu Bharosa' scheme will benefit 70,11,984 farmers, covering 1.49 lakh acres, Reddy had said.

India Today

an hour ago

• India Today

Trinamool Congress's Alifa Ahmed wins Kailganj bypoll, defeats BJP's Ashish Ghosh

Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Alifa Ahmed has won the Kaliganj Assembly bypoll in West Bengal's Nadia district by a massive margin of 50,049 votes, defeating her nearest BJP rival, Ashish Ghosh. The by-election was held following the death of her father and former MLA Nasiruddin Ahmed in February this to the Election Commission of India (ECI), Alifa secured 1,02,759 votes, while BJP's Ashish Ghosh received 52,710 votes. The Congress-Left-supported candidate, Kabil Uddin Shaikh, came third with 28,348 Alifa received around 9,000 votes less than her father's 1,11,696 votes in 2021, her winning margin increased. Nasiruddin had won by 46,987 votes in the last election, whereas Alifa surpassed that, seemingly due to a split in votes between BJP and Congress-Left candidates. Outside the counting centre, Alifa thanked voters for their support. She said, "This victory is because of people's love and faith in Mamata Banerjee's development politics."Responding to BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari's claim that Hindus didn't vote for TMC, Alifa said, 'I do not agree. We received significant leads from some Hindu-majority areas.'She added, 'We did not target votes from any particular community. We approached all voters. The results show people don't support communal division in Bengal.'advertisementWith PTI inputs.

Time of India

an hour ago

• Time of India

Pakistan will go to war if India denies water under IWT, says Bilawal Bhutto

Pakistan's former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Monday said his country will go to war if India denies Islamabad its fair share of water under the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT). India put in abeyance the 1960 agreement soon after the April 22 Pahalgam terrorist attack that killed 26 people. Home Minister Amit Shah last week announced to never restore the historic accord. Bilawal's comments came two days after Pakistan's Foreign Ministry criticised Shah's "brazen disregard" for international agreements. Bilawal, in a speech in parliament, rejected the Indian decision to suspend the agreement and threatened to get Pakistan's share of water. "India has two options: share water fairly, or we will deliver water to us from all six rivers," he said referring to the six rivers of the Indus basin. Live Events He said that the IWT was still in vogue as the agreement cannot be held in abeyance. "The attack on Sindhu (Indus River) and India's claim that the IWT has ended and it's in abeyance. Firstly, this is illegal, as the IWT is not in abeyance, it is binding on Pakistan and India, but the threat itself of stopping water is illegal according to the UN charter," he said. Bilawal, who is head of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), also threatened that if India decides to follow through on the threat, "we will have to wage war again". The former foreign minister also highlighted the importance of talks and cooperation, especially in counterterrorism efforts. "If India and Pakistan refuse to talk, and if there is no coordination on terrorism, then violence will only intensify in both countries," he said. Bilawal also accused India of "weaponising terrorism for political purposes". He claimed that during his diplomatic visits to the UK and European nations as foreign minister, it was evident that India had lobbied hard to reverse Pakistan's progress on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) front. "At a time when Pakistan had successfully moved from the FATF grey list to the white list, India made every effort to drag us back to the grey list using false narratives and diplomatic pressure," he claimed. Bilawal also said that Pakistan succeeded in raising the issue of Kashmir on the world stage and President Donald Trump had spoken in favour of mediation on Kashmir. Apart from immediate steps such as putting the IWT in abeyance and stopping all trade with Pakistan, India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terrorist infrastructure in territories controlled by Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. The strikes triggered four days of intense clashes that ended with an understanding on stopping the military actions on May 10.