Kolkata, April 20: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday launched a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress government during the election campaign in West Bengal. He alleged that the youth in the state are upset, farmers are disappointed and industries have collapsed, but the government is only engaged in appeasement politics.
Addressing a public meeting in support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates in Pingla assembly constituency, he said that mafias involved in sand, coal, land and animal smuggling are active in Bengal, while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is only bothered by the slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’. He alleged that unrest spreads before festivals and incidents of stone pelting take place on processions.
Addressing two other public meetings, Yogi Adityanath recalled the situation in Uttar Pradesh before 2017, saying that while chanting “Jai Shri Ram” was met with lathicharges and firing, he said that now law and order is better in the state, and a “no curfew, no riot” system is in place. He said that bulldozers are now used against criminals, and the state is free from mafia and hooliganism.
He praised the hard work of Bengal’s farmers, saying that its fertile land provides food grains to the country. He also cited Droupadi Murmu, the country’s first tribal woman president, and accused the Congress, Trinamool Congress, and the opposition alliance of failing to uplift the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Yogi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to implement reservation for women, but opposition parties obstructed it. He alleged that these parties also insulted the president, which the people of the country will not accept.
He claimed that over 7,000 large industries and 18,000 micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises have closed down in Bengal in the last 15 years, leaving over 3 million youth unemployed. He also said that potato, paddy, and fish production has declined, and farmers are not receiving fair prices.
The Chief Minister said that in Uttar Pradesh, the poor are now receiving free rations, housing, pensions, gas connections under the Ujjwala Yojana, and healthcare facilities under Ayushman Bharat without any discrimination. He described this as the “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” model and urged people to embrace it.
Yogi Adityanath alleged that the Bengal government is obstructing fencing along the Bangladesh border and that, due to appeasement politics, it is unable to control cow smuggling, illegal infiltration, and mafia activities.
During the gathering, he cited many great figures, including Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Swami Vivekananda, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, saying that Bengal has provided leadership to the country and now it is necessary to free it from chaos.
He appealed for votes in support of Swagata Manna from Pingla and Suvendu Samanta from Keshpur, saying that only the Bharatiya Janata Party can establish law and order and ensure development in the state.