The expelled Lok Sabha MP from Krishnagar, Mahua Moitra, had extended an invite but Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to ignore her and her invite. Instead he sharpened the attack on the ruling Trinamul in Bengal on Saturday with tolabaaj (extortionist) on his lips on the second day of his Vijay Sankalp Yatra in Nadia’s Krishnagar and asked for all 42 seats from Bengal in the next Lok Sabha polls.

“TMC now stands for Tu, main aur corruption hi corruption (You me and corruption and corruption),” Modi said at a public rally, following a small event where he inaugurated and laid foundation stones for a slew of government projects.

He made no mention of the first-time MP from Krishnagar, who was one of his most vocal critics and expelled from the Lok Sabha in December. While Modi was still in Calcutta’s Raj Bhawan the expelled Krishnagar MP was at Karimpur, some 78 km from her former constituency.

“Started the morning with dalpuri at Ramen Ghosh’s shop in Karimpur. My favourite. Prime Minister Modi ji, do come and have some,” Mahua said in a post on Facebook made on Saturday morning.

Facebook / Mahua Moitra - মহুয়া মৈত্র

Though the BJP state president, Sukanto Majumdar, and the leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, made personal attacks on Mahua in their speeches, Modi did not names. He did not even say Didi once.

PTI

Like his speech in Arambagh on Friday, Modi’s focus was on the Bengal ruling party and the government’s policies rather than on any individual.

“The people of Bengal gave a huge mandate to the Trinamul again and again, but have been deceived every time. Today, Trinamul is synonymous with atrocities and betrayal,” Modi said. “TMC maney vishvaasghaat, atyachar, bhrashtachar, parivarvaad (TMC means betrayal, atrocities, corruption and dynasty politics). They want to keep the people of Bengal poor so that they can carry on with their dirty games.”

PTI

Modi brought up the controversy over the lack of environmental clearance to the just-inaugurated AIIMS at Nadia’s Kalyani. Though the project was initially announced for North Dinajpur’s Raigunj during the UPA rule, Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee had forced the project to be relocated to Kalyani.

“The Trinamul government wants commission for every permission. The Trinamul tolabaaj (extortionists) and mafia goondaraj have all permissions but for such a big hospital they created environmental hurdles,” Modi said. “If commission is not given they stop permissions. For them first commission then permission.”

Citing the 1,000-bed AIIMS in Kalyani, Modi said it stood as an example that Modi’s guarantee is the guarantee of keeping a guarantee.

Referring to the events at Sandeshkhali where former local Trinamul unit president Shahjahan Sheikh (arrested on Thursday) and his henchmen controlled the area, Modi said: “They want the tolabaaj to decide on the beneficiaries of central government schemes.”

Modi claimed a breakdown in the law and order situation in the state.“The situation is such that the police have no control. The criminals decide when they will surrender, when they will get arrested,” Modi said. “The state government did not want to arrest the Sandeshkhali culprit, pressure from the locals and the BJP forced them to arrest him.”

Hitting out on corruption among the Trinamul rank and file, Modi claimed more than 25 lakh fake job cards under the national rural employment guarantee schemes were detected in Bengal.

“Trinamul has mastered the art of turning every scheme into a scam. They made cards even in the name of unborn kids. The money that the poor workers should have received has been looted by the Trinamul’s tolabaaj,” Modi said.

The Prime Minister said the Trinamul government had stopped the Centre from implementing several welfare schemes in the state.

“Whatever schemes we try to introduce they stand in the way. Under the Ujjwala scheme, 10 crore free LPG connections were provided in the country. We received 13 lakh applications from Bengal. But we could not process them since the government did not set up the Ujjwala committees in the district,” Modi said.

He also accused the Bengal government of not allowing the Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao scheme, and the Centre’s free health schemes in the state.

Modi will be back in Bengal on March 6 when he will address a public meeting at Barasat.