Union home minister Amit Shah's threat of hanging goons upside down to set them straight, aimed at Trinamool Congress cadres since before April 23, has triggered a war of words between the BJP's No. 2 and Trinamool's No. 1.
Speaking at Howrah's Shyampur on Saturday, Shah repeated the Hindi idiomatic phrase "ulta latkakar sidha kar denge", which translates into English as: “I will hang you upside down and straighten you out.”
Such a phrase is usually used by police personnel in Hindi-speaking states to threaten criminals. Shah has been using this phrase repeatedly in his recent speeches.
Mamata, speaking from Uttarpara in Hooghly earlier on Saturday, referred to Shah's previous speeches with the threat, questioning how a person occupying the chair of the Union home minister could utter such violent words.
In reply to Mamata, Shah, in his rally speech, said: “In the first phase, not a single goon came out of their homes. And I once again alert Mamata's goons — don't come and stay indoors on April 29, brothers. If you come out of your homes on April 29, then I will hang you upside down and straighten you out on May 4."
The Bengal election result will be out on May 4.
A section of BJP leaders believes that besides the high-security arrangements made by the Election Commission, Shah's "hang upside down" warning to alleged Trinamool goons before April 23 had clicked on the ground and would yield similar results on the second phase of polls on April 29.
“The election was free and fair and there were no reports of large-scale violence or allegations of intimidation. His (Shah's) remedy was a political weapon to restrain those goons,” said a BJP leader.
Tearing into Shah's language, Mamata said at Uttarpara: “How can you (Shah) talk about hanging people upside down and straightening them out? How can you make comments that are so violent? I know that no one will take action against them.... I will request the lawyers present here to file a case against such comments. It is a crime, and such words cannot be spoken by the (Union) home minister. I cannot say such words, no one else can do so either, because the law is the same for all.”
She also accused central agencies of targeting only Trinamool.
Shah hit back from his Shyampur rally.
“If I threaten the goons, Mamata didi gets angry with me. She has said that, despite being the Union home minister, Amit Shah is threatening the goons. Then please tell me Didi, what am I supposed to do with those goons? Should I hug them?” Shah asked. “Didi, put your goons in the garage. If they even touch the mothers and sisters of Bengal, they will not be spared,” he added.
Burdwan's sweet
Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday said that the BJP would register a massive victory in Bengal and celebrate it by offering Burdwan's unique sweet, the Sitabhog, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 4 when results are announced. “In the first phase election, we will get more than 110 seats, and this time BJP will form the government and celebrate its victory by offering Burdwan's Sitabhog to Modiji,” Shah said at a rally in Jamalpur in East Burdwan.
Bhabanipur battle
Four days before Bengal's high-voltage constituency, Bhabanipur, goes to the polls on April 29, Trinamool's Mamata Banerjee and BJP's Suvendu Adhikari hit the streets for campaigning almost at the same time on Saturday evening. Mamata led a 2km march from Shambhunath Pandit Street to Kalighat Crossing, after which she addressed people. Around the same time, Adhikari walked through several other lanes of Bhabanipur and addressed small gatherings, besides talking to voters.
