TMC mocks Shah’s vow to end ‘family rule’ in Bengal, says people have rejected BJP last year

PTI, Jul 4, 2022, 9:07 AM IST

Slamming Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his comment that the BJP will end ”family rule” in West Bengal and Telangana, the TMC on Sunday asserted that people of the eastern state rejected the ”divisive politics” of the saffron camp in the assembly elections last year and voted the Mamata Banerjee-led party to power for the third consecutive term. In his address at the BJP national executive meeting in Hyderabad, Shah called for ending the politics of dynasty, casteism and appeasement.

He also said the party will end ”family rule” in Telangana and West Bengal and form governments in states where power has so far remained out of its reach.

Reacting to Shah’s comments, TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said, ”If the BJP holds a mirror to itself, the party will see how it has been abetting politics of dynasty. It inducted the entire Adhikari family of Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district in its fold – Suvendu and his two brothers – and Amit Shah had invited Suvendu’s father Sisir Adhikari in his public meeting. And what about the Scindia family and Kailash Vijayvargiya’s son? In Trinamool Congress, no such things happen.” He also claimed that ”Shah, whose dream to occupy power in West Bengal was not fulfilled in 2021”, is yet to ”digest the humiliating defeat” in the last year’s assembly polls.

”His comments stem from frustration and desperation,” the TMC leader said. The TMC won 213 assembly seats in the last year’s polls, while the BJP bagged 77. Later, several saffron camp legislators joined the ruling party.

Briefing reporters on the Shah’s speech, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the union home minister cited the BJP’s win in a series of polls to assert that it underlined people’s approval of the party’s ”politics of development and performance”. Ghosh also criticised Sarma for ”making political statement at the BJP’s national executive meeting at a time when people of his state are affected by floods”. ”When Assam is reeling under major floods, and lakhs of people are hit by the deluge, the chief minister of the state is busy with making political statement at his party’s meet instead of standing by the side of those who elected him. Here lies the difference between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP”.