In Mamata's Regime, West Bengal Has Become 'Bekaar' Bengal: Dilip 

By Didhiti Ghosh, Bureau Chief, Indian Observer Post

Kolkata, Jan 23, 2019: BJP president Amit Shah kicked off the party’s campaign in West Bengal for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections with a rally in Malda on 22^nd January, 2019. The event comes days after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hosted a mega opposition “United India” rally in Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground and slammed the Modi Government, claiming that the ruling BJP Government’s expiry date was over “just like your pills”. INDIAN OBSERVER POST’S Kolkata Bureau Chief DIDHITI GHOSH took a dive into  the matter in her one-on-one Interview with West Bengal’s BJP State President Dilip Ghosh, bringing to surface several other burning issues in the nation just before the upcoming parliamentary elections. Excerpts:

Amit Shah has kicked off your party’s campaign in West Bengal, but the ruling BJP cannot hold a "Rath Yatra" in Bengal for now, the Supreme Court has ruled, stating that the concerns of the State government "cannot be said to be unfounded". The Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee also remarked that her party will not allow BJP to run amok in Bengal, and that India will see “No Acche Din under the Modi government.” What is your reaction? 

Banerjee has clearly hired a tired army to make her way to Delhi. If the Brigade Parade meeting had been truly significant, Rahul Gandhi would have himself come to Kolkata and not sent someone in his home state to represent him. Just like the TMC government, the Congress government is on the verge of extinction. Banerjee has pathetically hired a tired army of rejected netas (leaders) to make her way to Delhi.

The people must know that BJP does not at all wish to hold a Rath Yatra in Bengal – we will rather hold a Ganatantra Bachao Yatra to save Bengal from the Satanic clutches of the ruling TMC government.

The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has asked your party to revise the plan, address the apprehensions of the Mamata Banerjee government and seek permission again. Will you seek permission again, as advised by the apex court? 

The BJP will hold a rally to safeguard ganatantra (democracy) at the Brigade Parade Ground on the 8^th of February to counter the TMC’s ongoing circus in the name of a serious rally. Our rally will be attended by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself. BJP President Amit Shah has just kicked off the party’s campaign in West Bengal from 22^nd of January. Modiji will also hold rallies on January 28^th and 31^st.

What are the core issues that you are going to raise during these rallies and meetings? 

Rahul Gandhi recently in his message to the Chief Minister Banerjee emphasized that “true nationalism and development can be defended on the tested pillars of democracy, social justice and secularism”. However, we have seen that the TMC has come up with utterly atrocious results in all three aspects. Banerjee and her team have taken recourse to looting of votes in all stages of election – from Panchayat municipalities, where 42% people are not allowed to vote, to the Lok Sabha elections, and the basic democratic rights of the people are endangered. All these will definitely be our core issues.

Mamata Banerjee has said that the TMC will not allow communal violence in the name of Rath Yatra, and that India does not believe in the politics of divide and rule as taken up by the BJP regime. Banerjee also said that the need of the hour is a “collective leadership”. Your comment?

Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at the Saturday rally that it is evident that the leaders present at the rally have no road-map for the development of India. BJP also believes that those who could not see each other’s views jointly have come together in the mega rally and that their only agenda is to remove the Modi government from the center. When such a situation exists where there is big speech but poor implementation of plan, no party will survive in the long run.

Banerjee’s statement that “we have several leaders, everybody is a leader” is itself a contradiction. Then she must admit that TMC also supports the Leftist government’s principle of communism.

Do you agree with Mamata Banerjee’s statement that the Modi government always tends to take credit for the developmental works done by the TMC government?

Let me say that since the last 7 months more than 90 people have been killed in political riots during the Panchayat elections under the TMC rule. When cats and dogs are accidentally killed, people protest, but when so many human beings are suffering torture in their daily life regarding their right to vote, how dare the TMC make such claims? I have come across reports that several vegetable vendors have been threatened by the TMC to attend the brigade or else they will be suspended. Is this what Banerjee calls unnayan (development)?

BJP Mahila Morcha President Locket Chatterjee has rightly remarked that whenever PM Modi launches a scheme of affordable healthcare for the poor in the country, which even global leaders praise, opposition leaders like Banerjee pull out of the scheme for their political agenda.

The whole TMC party is headed by a Hitler clad in a woman’s saree, if you understand what I mean.

TMC has been opposing the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in West Bengal. Will your party make it an election issue in the state?

The TMC government talked about this back in 2014, and the BJP primarily has no say in this. It has been observed that people from many regions and from different religions have come to Bengal as refugees – Muslims, Hindus, Jains and Sikhs. Those who need refuge will be given right to citizenship by the BJP government, as the BJP believes in equal participation of people in the state’s development.

The TMC is the party which is running a discriminating and divisive policy by selecting specific people for political and social representation, which is a definite contrast to the BJP’s policy. Both a doctor’s son and a farmer’s son have equal right to become the Prime Minister under the BJP government.

Opposition parties are alleging the ruling BJP Government in the centre for misusing Central agencies such as CBI, ED etc. against their political rivals. What do you say? 

These are open lies which the TMC government is bringing up as issues in the last moment. Several BJP leaders have been politically accused by other parties never to cut short the TMC, by blaming them for the countless number of grievances.

I ask why? There is no answer from the TMC supremo. The accusations are, like the firework, short-lived and effervescent, which will not prove the test of time. The years to come will make it clear to the people that the BJP is being victimized by a group of ruffians who have no sense of social development.

Demonetisation is still an issue in the nation. Rahul Gandhi has been saying that it was a disaster for the country. How do you respond to it?

Many people are of the opinion that today West Bengal is bekaar (useless) Bengal because an adequate number of jobs are not available for the growing youth population. PM Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana in April 2015 to create an inclusive, sustainable and value based entrepreneurial culture to provide financial security to the non-corporate, non-farm small or micro enterprises.

More than 6 crores homes have cooking gas at ready dispense ever since the BJP came to power, we have given shelter to the needy and all the financial decisions taken by the Centre have improved the state of business in the long run. The National Congress is taking up false issues to tarnish the BJP’s good work.

Will the Rafale Deal become an election issue in the state? If yes, how do you respond to the claims raised by the Congress Party, especially about choosing Anil Ambani's company and the change in prices? Do you consider it as an instance of failure of Modi’s “Make-in-India” programme?

Arun Jaitley and Nirmala Sitharaman had earlier already provided excellent explanations regarding the issue with good detail. The reason for which the prices have differed is because the quality of the fighter aircrafts is much better with more advanced features than it was during the Congress regime, including a superior weapons package and logistical support.

The preference for the French Dassault Aviation partnering with the Ambani-led Reliance Defence Ltd. has been taken to support better outcomes in the long run, which would not have been possible had the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) been chosen.

TMC and some other parties are also raising the issue of infighting in CBI and the resignation of RBI Governor. What do you comment? 

The BJP sarkar (government) has taken the right decision that was deemed fit for the future of India. The same decision has been taken because the party believes that to bring about good to the nation, officials at the Centre must remain calm and balanced – those who could not, have therefore been given resignation.

The Congress has lost 27 State elections ever since Rahul Gandhi became Vice President and it is sad that people are only blaming the BJP and praising the Congress for the latter’s limited number of wins in the recent 2018 elections where it won majority in 3 states. The situation is a plot to defame the BJP.

In West Bengal, how many seats is BJP expected to win in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections? 

More than 50% seats will be won in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and more than 22 seats will be for BJP this time. We have full faith in the people, and the BJP government has left strong footprints towards the path of India’s development.

The TMC is funding the issue of balika vivah (child marriage) and at the same time introducing the Kanyashree Prakalpa. Kidnapping, molestation and disrespect of women is rampant and many people are moving out of Bengal to get employment. No woman is safe here, and I wonder how Banerjee being a woman herself is not taking sufficient measures to curb this problem. The people will take the right decision, and for now, we must wait and watch.
Photo Courtesy – Mahanagar 24X7 / Zee News / PTI

(DIDHITI GHOSH is a psychologist, journalist, script-writer, professor and a certified conference interpreter of the Spanish language. She is the Bureau Chief of INDIAN OBSERVER POST based in Kolkata. Contact: didhiti.24@gmail.com)