Kolkata: BJP president J P Nadda Monday launched a broadside against the TMC government in West Bengal, alleging criminalisation of politics and corruption have scaled new heights and calling for its ouster.
Lauding Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee for fighting for a united India and opposing the “appeasement politics” of Jawaharlal Nehru, Nadda said it is an honour to celebrate his birth anniversary at a time when the Modi government has fulfilled his dream of scrapping Article 370 that bestowed on Kashmir a special status.
On the one hand, we have Syama Prasad Mookerjee, who fought for a united India and always kept his ideals and principles above anything, and on the other, we have the present TMC government in Bengal for which “clinging to power by any means is everything”.
“Criminalisation of politics has scaled new heights, now we all hear about cut money in Bengal. We need to cut to size these leaders. We need to restore Bengal’s glory and remove this government lock, stock and barrel,” Nadda told a virtual rally for West Bengal on the birth anniversary of Mookerjee.
Bengal used to lead the country once upon a time.
Syama Prasad Mookherjee had taken Bengal to new heights…but it is a matter of shame that standards of education have now plunged to abysmal levels. Now, if you are not associated with the ruling party of the state, you would be graded accordingly. We need to change this, he said.
The BJP leader also deplored “politicisation of education” resulting in falling standards of learning.
“This trend is worrisome for Bengal. We must dedicate ourselves to restore education in Bengal back to its glorious standards,” he said.
Speaking about Mookerjee’s contributions to the nation, Nadda asserted it was because of the efforts of the Jana Sangh founder that West Bengal and large parts of Punjab are with India.
“It is due to Syama Prasad Mookerjee that Bengal and Punjab are with India. Otherwise, they would have gone to Pakistan during Partition…He opposed the appeasement politics of Nehru in post-Independent India…. but the Congress has a bad habit of stifling democratic voices,” he said.
When their ideals didn’t match, he resigned from Nehrus cabinet. The Nehru-Liaquat pact made him resign because it cheated the minorities in Pakistan… Dr Mookerjee questioned the reason behind special rights being given to Jammu and Kashmir through Article 370. But Nehru Ji and Sheikh Abdullah were doing the job of executing their trick, he said.
He also attacked the state’s Mamata Banerjee government over its handling of the COVID-19 crisis.
“The West Bengal chief minister doesn’t believe in cooperative federalism. She is not keen on sharing COVID data with the Centre,” he alleged.
Reacting to Naddas allegation against the TMC government, state parliamentary affairs minister Partha Chatterjee termed it baseless and an attempt to mislead the people of Bengal.
For BJP what matters most is votes. So they can go to any extent, from telling lies to distorting history. The allegation of education being politicised is baseless. They want to destroy our culture and tradition. They want to thrust their culture and ideology on Bengalis and are trying to mislead the people of Bengal, Chatterjee said.