Union home minister Amit Shah played the regional development card as he extensively campaigned on Wednesday in north Bengal, where the BJP had won more seats than the Trinamool Congress in the 2021 Assembly elections.
Throughout the day, Shah addressed three public meetings at Fatapukur in Jalpaiguri district, Falakata in Alipurduar district and at Tufanganj in Cooch Behar district.
“In our election manifesto, we promised that central institutions like the AIIMS, IIT, IIM, and 500-bed cancer hospitals would be set up in different locations of north Bengal. Added to it, we will also set up a sports university and a tribal university in the region,” Shah said.
In Bengal, 16 Assembly seats are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs). Among them, eight seats are in north Bengal. In 2021, the BJP had won seven of the eight seats.
“The announcement of a tribal university shows that the saffron camp is keen to retain the support of the tribal community. Along with the eight reserved seats, adivasis also form a considerable portion of the vote bank in some other Assembly seats of the region,” said a political observer.
In his speech, Shah also tried to reach out to the Rajbanshi community, which determines the results of around half of the 54 Assembly seats of north Bengal.
“Once our government is formed in Bengal, the Rajbanshi language will be included in the eighth schedule of the Indian Constitution, and a battalion in the name of Narayani Sena (the erstwhile royal troops of Cooch Behar) will be formed in the state reserve police,” the home minister said.
He accused the Trinamool government of not providing land for the installation of fences along the India-Bangladesh border.
“This state government is not providing 600 acres of land for fencing. When the BJP is voted to power, the land would be handed over to the BSF within 45 days to prevent infiltration,” Shah said.
The senior BJP leader also mentioned the plan of Humayan Kabir, who now heads AJUP, to build Babri Masjid in Murshidabad district.
“He is an agent of the TMC, and his expulsion was part of a drama. Let us be clear that Bengal is a part of India, and we will not allow the construction of the Babri Masjid here,” he said.
The home minister also tried to push the narrative that the Trinamool government was ignoring north Bengal.
“The total budget of the state government is of ₹4 lakh crore. For Muslims, the government allots ₹5,700 crore. For the entire north Bengal, the allocation is only ₹1,200 crore. For us, development of this region is a priority,” Shah said.