Home Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah held his latest "Jan Samvad" virtual rally for West Bengal, from the party headquarters in New Delhi.
According to the West Bengal BJP, and Shah's own admission, the "rally" was transmitted to over 70,000 booths across Bengal using as many numbers of LED screens. Through the course of the roughly one-hour-long address, the Home Minister trained his guns on the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal on a variety of issues, ranging from its COVID-19 response, to return of migrants, Ayushmann Bharat and the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
While the party claims that these addresses, spread across the country, are an attempt to thank the nation on the one-year anniversary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's second term in office, many are also seeing it as the start to the party's poll campaign in West Bengal, which goes to elections next year.
'Corona Express Will Take Didi Out of Bengal'
Waging an attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her alleged refusal to bring migrants trains into Bengal after the COVID-19 lockdown, Shah said it was only Bengal that expressed such refusal.
"I was even more shocked when Mamata Didi called those trains, in which poor labourers were coming back to meet their loved ones, "Corona Express". This is an insult to our labourers and this Corona Express will only show you to your exit from Bengal," Shah said.
The Home Minister also alleged that the West Bengal government is not letting farmers benefit from the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN).
"Mamata Banerjee is preventing the farmers of the state from receiving Rs 6,000... Give us the list on Saturday and we will disburse the amount by Monday," Shah added.
'I Want to Ask Mamata Didi, What Have the Matuas Done to You?'
Once again attacking Banerjee for her opposition to the Centre's Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Shah brought the matter down to the Matua community, one of the Trinamool's largest vote-banks in state.
"The CAA is the most important issue in the country after the Partition. Mamata Banerjee was against CAA. They protested in the Parliament and on the streets against it. I want to ask Mamata Didi, why are you against the Matuas? Why are you against giving citizenship to our persecuted brothers and sisters from Bangladesh," asked Shah.
He also alleged that the West Bengal government was obstructing the Ayushman Bharat scheme in the state.
"Even Arvind Kejriwal has accepted Ayushman Yojana, why can't Mamata accept,'' asked Shah.
"I promise if West Bengal gets a BJP CM, we will immediately set-up the Ayushman Bharat Scheme here," he said.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)