Siliguri: TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is a ‘speed-breaker’ in the path of West Bengal’s development, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here Wednesday addressing an election rally. He insisted that she and party the Trinamool Congress has to go to make way for the betterment of the state.
Modi also took on the Congress over its manifesto which talks about reviewing some clauses of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), stating that it acts like a ‘shield’ for the security forces in the fight against terrorists.
“They (the Congress) want our defence forces to be helpless…their hands and feet tied,” Modi said and accused the Congress and its allies of sympathising with Pakistan.
“’Didi’ (Mamata Banerjee) is a speed-breaker in the path of West Bengal’s development,” Modi said in his first public rally on Banerjee’s turf after the general elections were announced.
Claiming that Banerjee has put a spanner in several central schemes for the uplift of the poor, Modi said that ‘Didi’ have not allowed people of Bengal to benefit from the Ayushman Bharat scheme. “I am waiting for this speed-breaker to go so development can gather speed,” Modi said amid thunderous cheers.
Modi also urged the people to vote without fear. “Go and cast your vote peacefully, no one will be able to prevent you from exercising your rights,” he told the huge gathering. He was thus sending discreet signals to the Trinamool Congress not to terrorise the voters as it had allegedly happened in the last few elections.
It should be mentioned here that of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies which went to the polls in West Bengal in 2014, the Trinamool Congress won 34, Congress four, BJP and the Left Front two each.
PTI