Shah’s 2 rallies 9 yrs apart: What same/different he spoke

“After ending 27 years of the Left Front rule, people chose Didi (Mamata) with a lot of hope. They thought TMC would usher in development. But after three-and-a-half years, Bengal has seen no development. Instead. It has more backward,” Shah had said.

Targeting the TMC over Saradha chit fund scam, Shah had said, “In Delhi, TMC MPs are wearing black shawls and protesting. I ask her (CM) if the money was black or white in the Saradha scam… In various chit fund scams, the money of 17 lakh people has been lost. Why is Mamata didi not protesting? I dare you if you can claim whoever is being arrested is innocent.”

Shah had also accused the TMC chief of “protecting Bangladeshi infiltrators” and alleged that when NIA was probing blasts in Bengal, the state government was “creating roadblocks in the investigation”.

“I am a small worker in the BJP. The victories we had are no victories. Real victory will be when we will oust TMC and form a government in Bengal,” he has said. He also spoke about the development initiative of the Modi government within six months of its power and highlighted the importance of development and employment generation in Bengal.

He had then also claimed that Mamata Banerjeee didn’t want to give permission for the BJP rally. “They forced the stage to be small too. Today is BJP’s ‘Utthan Divas’ Bengal… Next November 30 will be TMC’s ‘Patan Divas’,” was Shah’s opening remarks in 2014.

Nine years later, there were a few similar things he spoke about such as accusing the TMC government of not allowing the BJP to hold a rally there. This time, the Calcutta High Court intervened and allowed the BJP to hold a rally at Esplanade. Also, Shah sounded shriller on the issues of cows, cross-border infiltration, and corruption.

“I was here in 2014. From here, I gave a call for ousting the Trinamool Congress. We were zero then. Now, we have 18 Lok Sabha seats and 17 Assembly seats in Bengal,” he said at the rally, now flanked by state BJP president Sukanta Majumder and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Suvendu Adhikari. “After the Communists were removed. I want to ask. Did Parivartan come? Did corruption stop? Did infiltration stop? Did appeasement stop? I am here to give you a call. With folded hands, I say that if you want to have a BJP government here in 2026, its base is to be created in 2024. In 2024, make Modiji Prime Minister from Bengal. Give us so many seats that Modiji in his speech says that Bengal made me Prime Minister,” Shah said.

If last time, Shah targeted the TMC government over corruption through chit fund scams, this time he invoked the issue of corruption again, albeit by naming school recruitment and coal pilferage cases, and targeted Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

“The TMC has damaged the reputation of Bengal through corruption. Jyoti Priya Mallick, Anubrata Mondal, and Partha Chatterjee…. from cattle smuggling, and coal smuggling cases to requirement scam…. they have looted crores of rupees meant for the people of Bengal. Today, I dare Mamata Banerjee to suspend these leaders from her party. But she cannot do it as she is chanting Durga’s name every day to pray that nephew’s name does not come up. Those who indulge in corruption cannot make Bengal corruption-free,” said Shah.

Also, this time, he invoked CAA-NRC to target the CM over alleged infiltration in the state via West Bengal.

Reiterating that the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) will be implemented and no one can stop it, he accused Mamata Banerjee of opposing the CAA due to her support to infiltration.