Amit Shah holds a roadshow in Bolpur on Sunday.Amit Shah West Bengal Visit Live Updates: Hitting out at Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, Union Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah on Sunday alleged that political violence has reached its peak in Bengal and around 300 BJP workers have been killed under her tenure. Condemning the attack on BJP national president J P Nadda last week, he said BJP believes that in a democracy everyone should have the right to voice their views. “I want to tell all TMC leaders that they must not be under the wrong impression that the BJP will stop with such attacks. We will work to establish our base in West Bengal,” he warned while speaking at a press conference in Bengal.
Shah said the people of Bengal want change in the state to end political violence, extortion and Bangladeshi infiltration. Overwhelmed by the huge turnout in his roadshow in Bolpur, Shah said he had never seen such a roadshow in his life and this shows people’s love towards PM Modi and anger towards Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
He also visited Visva-Bharati and paid homage to Rabindranath Tagore at Rabindra Bhavan on the university campus. Shah, who is on a two-day visit to West Bengal, paid floral tributes to Tagore at Rabindra Bhavan on the university campus. Amid tight security, the home minister arrived here for more than an hour-and-a-half-long visit to the central university. He is also scheduled to hold a meeting with vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty and members of the faculty.
Sending out a warning to CM Banerjee, Shah Saturday said the BJP will win more than 200 seats in next year’s state Assembly elections. Pointing out desertions from TMC, Shah took potshots at the party chief, saying that CM Mamata Banerjee will be left alone in the party by the time elections arrive.
Ending weeks of speculations, West Bengal political heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari along with nine MLAs of different parties and a TMC MP joined the BJP at Shah’s rally in Midnapore. The Home Minister visited the birthplace of Swami Vivekananda in north Kolkata on Saturday morning and said that the ideals of the 19th-century icon are more relevant in the present-day world. He also visited the Siddheshwari Kali Mandir in Habibpur and paid floral tributes to the revolutionary Khudiram Bose. He is also scheduled to have lunch with a farmer’s family in Balichuri village along with BJP leaders. After the public meeting, he will return to Kolkata and hold meetings with BJP state leaders.
After Suvendu Adhikari's resignation from the Cabinet last week, there was speculation that he would join the BJP.
Bengal at the bottom of every development index, says Amit Shah. Hitting out at Mamata Banerjee, Shah said, "Does Mamata didi want a country where people from one state can't go to the other? People of Bengal won't accept such conservative thinking."
Hitting out at Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, Union Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah on Sunday said that political violence has reached its peak in Bengal and around 300 BJP workers have been killed under her tenure.
Amit Shah thanked people for the showing "amazing affection" in Bolpur roadshow.
The Trinamool Congress on Sunday said there was no need to be too anxious over the recent defections from the party, as "traitors and backstabbers have existed since time immemorial", reported news agency PTI. Addressing a press meet in Kolkata, state panchayat minister and TMC MLA Subrata Mukherjee said his party is neither shocked nor crestfallen, as such desertions "wouldn't have any impact" on the upcoming assembly polls, likely to be held in April-May. The TMC does not give much importance to such developments, he said, and rejected BJP's "absurd claims" of winning 250 of 294 seats the the state polls.
"Give one chance to Narendra Modi. We will make 'Sonar Bangla' in 5 years," Amit Shah at a roadshow in Bolpur.
"Have never seen such roadshow in my life. Witnessing people's love for Modiji," says Amit Shah.
A sea of people with cutouts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends Amit Shah's roadshow in Bolpur.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday held a roadshow in Bolpur in Birbhum district of West Bengal.
Amit Shah visited Sangeet Bhavana in Visva Bharati, Santiniketan. Sharing some snaps of his visit, Shah tweeted, "Committed to fulfilling Tagors's dream, restore lost glory of Bengal."
In Santiniketan, a baul performs before Amit Shah.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other party leaders including Mukul Roy and Dilip Ghosh had lunch at the residence of a Baul singer at Bolpur, Birbhum district.
Taking to Twitter, the home minister said, "The contribution of the poet in the freedom struggle of India will always be remembered and his thoughts will always inspire our next generation."
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday visited Visva-Bharati and paid homage to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore at Rabindra Bhavan on the university campus. Shah is scheduled to visit the Upasana Griha (prayer house) and Sangeet Bhavan, where students of the university would render Rabindra Sangeet in a cultural programme, PTI reported. Shah, who is on a two-day visit to West Bengal, paid floral tributes to Gurudev Tagore at Rabindra Bhavan on the university campus. Amid tight security, the home minister arrived here for more than an hour-and-a-half-long visit to the central university. He is also scheduled to hold a meeting with vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty and members of the faculty.
Union Minister Amit Shah attended a cultural programme at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, Birbhum. Shah is on a two-day visit to West Bengal, which will conclude today.
Taking to Twitter, TMC MP Derek O'Brien said, "7 pieces of concocted, false info in one speech. Actually, by his standards, quite low!"
Union Home Minister Amit Shah paid floral tributes to Rabindranath Tagore at Rabindra-Bhavana, Shantiniketan, Birbhum.
Union Home Minister and BJP leader Amit Shah reached Birbhum, West Bengal on Sunday. He is scheduled to visit Visva-Bharati University in the district later today.
Home Minister Amit Shah will pay homage to poet Rabindranath Tagore at Santiniketan today.
Jolting the ruling party in West Bengal where Assembly elections are due before next summer, 10 TMC MLAs, an MP and a former MP joined the BJP Saturday at the public meeting in Midnapore.
Among them are former TMC heavyweight and MLA Suvendu Adhikari; Bardhaman Purba MP Sunil Kumar Mondal; another six MLAs of TMC; one MLA each of CPI, CPM and Congress; several TMC district leaders and councillors. While the TMC dismissed them as good riddance, their number, the range of their political affiliation and their experience, BJP leaders said, were straws in the shifting wind. Read more here
Welcoming TMC deserters into the BJP fold to set the tone for a bitter campaign in West Bengal where assembly elections are due next year, Union Home Minister Amit Shah Saturday targeted TMC leader and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying “this is just the beginning” and “you will be alone” by the time the polls start.
At a public meeting in Midnapore, the stronghold of former state transport minister Suvendu Adhikari who quit the TMC and joined the BJP along with Bardhaman Purba MP Sunil Kumar Mondal, nine MLAs and several others, Shah sought a 5-year mandate for the BJP and promised to turn the state into Sonar Bangla.
He also claimed that his party would form the next government with 200 seats – there are 294 seats in the state assembly.
Addressing the public at Paschim Medinipur, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the BJP will win more than 200 seats following the Vidhan Sabha elections and will form the government.
Lashing out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Shah said that while she had accused the BJP of inducing members to defect, senior members were leaving the TMC to join the BJP. He warned that Mamata would be left alone in TMC by the time the elections began.
The list is as follows:
MP
Ex-MP
MLA
Ex-minister
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Suvendhu Adhikari, who quit the TMC and joined the BJP today in Amit Shah's presence greeted the crowd that had assembled at College Ground in Paschim Medinipur.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah pays homage to Khudiram Bose with flowers at his (Bose's) native village in Pashchim Midnapore and meets with Bose's family members and felicitates them with honorary garbs. "Paid floral tributes to Khudiram Bose, an epitome of valour and courage, who at a very young age sacrificed himself for the cause of India's Independence. His life stands as an inspiration for us to do all that it takes to preserve our freedom and democracy," he tweeted.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah offers prayers at Siddheshwari Kali Temple in Midnapore.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee says the West Bengal government has reached over 1 crore people in two weeks with doorstep delivery of services.
Crowd at Mednipur college ground, where Amit Shah will address the rally.
Amit Shah said, "Swami Vivekananda took India's culture, vision and ethos to the world. He bridged the gap between spirituality and modernity. After visiting his birthplace, I feel his ideals are still relevant in the present-day world. Rather, his ideals are more needed in the present times," he told reporters."
Home Minister Amit Shah said on Saturday that revolutionary Khudiram Bose is as much a pride for the whole of India as he is of Bengal, hitting out at those indulging in "narrow" politics of regionalism. Garlanding the statue of Bose at the freedom fighter's ancestral residence here, Shah said that he has inspired the youth of the country with his slogan 'Vande Mataram' while he was hanged by the British in 1908.
"I want to tell those who are doing narrow politics in Bengal that Khudiram Bose is as much a pride of India as he is of Bengal," he said. The BJP leader said that those indulging in politics of regionalism should overcome it.
Two MLAs of the Trinamool Congress, the leader of its minority cell, and general secretary of a district unit quit the party on Friday as the widely anticipated exodus in the wake of former minister Suvendu Adhikari’s rebellion gathered momentum.
Suvendu and several other TMC leaders at various levels of the party are expected to join the BJP at a public meeting presided over by Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday.
The TMC put up a brave face – alleging it was the corrupt who were leaving the party. Senior TMC leaders said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s charisma and popularity were unmatched in West Bengal, and that would ultimately decide the Assembly elections a few months from now.
ON THE ground floor of the West Bengal State Government Employees Federation office in Midnapore town, near the ground where Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to address a public meeting Saturday, a group of TMC workers sat on plastic chairs, their eyes glued to the TV. What they saw was a stream of leaders quitting their party.
The low buzz inside that small office captured the mood within the ruling party in the state: despair, anger, speculation, criticism and confusion.
After heavyweight leader Suvendu Adhikari and MLA Jitendra Tiwari resigned from the party, the exodus continued Friday with two more MLAs, Silbhadra Dutta and Banashree Maity, and minority cell general secretary Kabirul Islam walking away from the TMC.
On Sunday, Amit Shah is scheduled to visit Bolpur in Birbhum district. He will also visit Visva-Bharati University campus and meet Vice-Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty. Shah will have lunch at the house of a Baul singer Basudev Das at Shyambati area in Santiniketan, the party said. He is also scheduled to hold a roadshow in Bolpur Town.
According to BJP sources, Shah’s visit assumes significance as a large number of TMC leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari, are set to join the party in presence of Shah.
Shah is scheduled to visit Medinipur, the stronghold of Suvendu Adhikari, on Saturday. He will pay homage to freedom fighter Khudiram Bose there and meet one of the descendants of Bose in Habibpur.
Shah is scheduled to have lunch at the house of party worker Sanatan Sinha at Benajuri Village in Paschim Medinipur district.
Extending support to CM Mamata Banerjee, Chattisgarh chief minister said, ”Federalism is at stake yet again. The BJP govt at centre has enchroached the state’s area of administration and transfered officers. And that too before elections. Centre’s interference is highly objectionable and condemnable.
Shah’s West Bengal visit comes days after a convoy of BJP chief JP Nadda was attacked by alleged Trinamool workers, triggering a huge row between the Centre and the Mamata Banerjee-led state.
Several cars in Nadda’s motorcade were stoned allegedly by workers aligned to the ruling Trinamool Congress on December 10. The incident took place while the BJP president, accompanied by several top party leaders, was headed to a public meeting at Diamond Harbour, on the outskirts of Kolkata.
Shah’s West Bengal visit comes days after a convoy of BJP chief JP Nadda was attacked by alleged Trinamool workers, triggering a huge row between the Centre and the Mamata Banerjee-led state.
Several cars in Nadda’s motorcade were stoned allegedly by workers aligned to the ruling Trinamool Congress on December 10. The incident took place while the BJP president, accompanied by several top party leaders, was headed to a public meeting at Diamond Harbour, on the outskirts of Kolkata.
Home Minister Amit Shah visited the birthplace of Swami Vivekananda in north Kolkata on Saturday morning and said that the ideals of the 19th-century icon are more relevant in the present-day world. Shah, who is on a two-day visit to West Bengal, paid tribute to Swami Vivekananda, hailing him for taking Indian's culture and ethos to the world.
"Swami Vivekananda took India's culture, vision and ethos to the world. He bridged the gap between spirituality and modernity. After visiting his birthplace, I feel his ideals are still relevant in the present-day world. Rather, his ideals are more needed in the present times," he told reporters.
Amit Shah reached Kolkata last night. In a tweet posted in Bengali, Shah said he was “eager to interact with (my) brothers and sisters of West Bengal.
Hello and welcome to our LIVE blog. Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who arrived in Kolkata in the early hours of Saturday, is scheduled to address a public meeting in Midnapore later today. Follow all the latest updates from West Bengal here.