Alarming rise of communal incidents in TMC regime: Rajnath

Home Minister Rajnath Singh Sunday attacked the TMC government over the law and order situation in West Bengal and claimed that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was now giving less time to the state as her eyes are fixed on forming a 'Mahagathbandhan'. Alleging that communal incidents have risen "alarmingly" since the Trinamool Congress came to power in 2011, he claimed West Bengal is the only state besides Jammu and Kashmir where police personnel are being attacked.

With the patronisation of "goondaism, what happened to sonar Bangla (golden Bengal), where presently neither maa, manush nor maati appear to be safe anymore", he claimed. "Maa-maati-manush" (mother-land-human) is the slogan of the ruling Trinamool Congress.

He claimed that Bengal has now become the front-runner among the most economically backward states in India and in violent incidents. Singh claimed there had been an alarming rise in communal incidents in West Bengal in four years.

"The numbers of communal incidents in 2011 were 40. By 2014, they rose to 100, and by 2017 around 882 communal incidents were reported. A total of 111 people have been killed in communal violence," he said. "In Bengal, nobody is safe not even police officials," Singh claimed.

Alleging that BJP candidates had not been allowed to file nomination papers in the last panchayat polls in West Bengal, he said "here loktantra (democracy) is getting replaced by lathitantra (goondaism)". The Union minister asked BJP activists not to retaliate with violence following attacks on them but to note down the name of the attacker instead.

On the upcoming Global Business Summit in West Bengal, he said in order to invite investors to the state, the Trinamool Congress government needs to improve the law and order situation. Describing the 'Mahagathbandhan', a proposed alliance of non-BJP opposition parties, as directionless, Singh said these parties had only one agenda and that was to oppose the BJP at the Centre.

Addressing a 'Ganatantra Bachao Rally' here in Hooghly district, Singh said, "Mamataji is giving less time to her state as her priorities are elsewhere, on the Mahagathbandhan." He also mocked Banerjee for trying to forge the alliance, wondering "who will run the vehicle, who will put the brake or who will press the clutch."

In a dig at Banerjee, who is eyeing foreign investments in the upcoming summit, he said, "For investment in the state, you have to change the ground level law and order situation and create necessary environment for investment." He said, "Mamataji, you had promised to provide jobs to the unemployed youths of Bengal after coming to power. What happened to that? Why 55,000 big, small industrial units remain closed in the state?"

Singh said the TMC government's "non-flexible, anti-development and anti-people attitude" is clear from its opposition to the smart city project and the Ayushman Bharat project of the Centre. He charged the TMC and the erstwhile CPI(M) governments with rise in infiltration across the Indo-Bangladesh border and patronising anti-national elements.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)