West Bengal elections: Not vikas, Modi has brought vinash, says CPI(M)

Attacking Modi for commenting on the lack of development in the state, the senior CPM leader said, “Modi keeps talking about his visit two years ago during the 2014 elections and how he sees no progress or development in the state. But I would like to ask him what development and progress has he brought in the past two years?”

Mishra alleged that instead of ‘vikas’ (development), the country has seen ‘vinash’ (destruction) during Modi’s tenure. “In his speeches, the PM mentions the Saradha scam and the Narada sting operation. As far as the chit fund scam is concerned, no specific laws have been brought in by the BJP government to check these. The Centre set up an Ethics Committee headed by senior BJP leader L K Advani to look into the Narada sting, but no progress has been made so far. That’s because the TMC and the BJP have a secret alliance and Modi needs Mamata’s support in the Parliament. It is an implicit understanding,” Mishra said.

CPM MP Mohammed Salim on Thursday also dismissed Modi’s speech, saying that the PM was playing with the emotions of the people here ahead of the Assembly election.

Questioning Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s silence over the Narada sting in the Rajya Sabha, Salim said, “He (PM Modi) has said a lot of things against Mamata today, but Cabinet ministers Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh were soft on the Mamata government while addressing rallies in Bengal in the past two days. Even now, as Modi criticises Mamata over several issues such as Saradha scam and Narada sting operation, why are the central agencies not working fast enough?”

“He might say a lot of things (against Mamata) but they don’t translate into action,” he added.

Referring to Modi’s remark that both TMC and the Left were engaged in a blame game against each other on the issues of rape, corruption and bomb-making, Salim said it was improper for a person like Modi to speak of murders when “he himself was behind the Gujarat genocide in 2002”.

“If he is so concerned about Bengal, why didn’t he send an advisory to the home ministry or the governor when these murders and rapes were taking place?” Salim told The Indian Express.

On Modi’s attack on the Congress-Left Front alliance where he said that both the parties are “maintaining double standards”, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said such statements do not suit the Prime Minister who himself was guilty of employing double standards on more than one occasion.

“Modi, before he criticises others, should look into the mirror and ask himself, ‘Who am I?’ His party has joined hands with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGM), whose main agenda is to drive out the Bengalis from Assam. In Jammu and Kashmir, Modi has joined hands with the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), which had tried to stop the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru,” Chowdhury told The Indian Express.