In what spells further trouble for the embattled West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, a resurgent BJP has now deployed its star campaigner Yogi Adityanath to hit the campaign trail in the state as the party looks to seal its victory in the upcoming Assembly elections.
Over the past few years, thanks to his stellar record as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath has emerged as a high impact campaigner for the BJP. His rallies have had high impact on the ground and often dominate the headlines. Yogi’s impact was amply visible in the recently concluded Bihar Assembly elections and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls as the BJP secured big gains. Now, the UP CM has been deployed in West Bengal which will likely spell doom for Mamata Banerjee as Yogi looks to apply finishing touches to ensure a comprehensive victory for the BJP in Bengal come May 2. The UP CM is expected to address at least a dozen rallies in the poll-bound state.
“I’d like to tell the Bengal govt and request Mamata didi that there was a government in UP that used to fire bullets at Lord Ram devotees in Ayodhya. You can see the condition of that government now. Now it’s TMC government’s turn in Bengal,” said Yogi Adityanath while addressing a rally in Malda.
He added, “Durga puja gets prohibited in Bengal today, cow slaughter is forcefully started during Eid. People’s sentiments are toyed with through cow smuggling. The state government remains silent. Now it’s attempted to ban slogan of ‘Jai Sri Ram’ and attacks are executed.”
Never known for mincing his words, Yogi claimed that West Bengal will celebrate Deepotsav of nationalism on May 2. He also accused the TMC of ‘blocking Central schemes’ while hitting out at Mamata Banerjee for ‘opposing the chants of Jai Shri Ram’.
Raking up the issue of Love-Jihad, the UP CM while pointing out how his government has taken steps to outlaw Love Jihad, said, “State government is unable to stop cow smuggling and love jihad – dangerous activities that will show results in the time to come.”
He added, “We have taken several steps to stop cow slaughter in Uttar Pradesh… If the BJP comes to power in Bengal, we will stop cow smuggling and illegal slaughterhouses in the state within 24 hours.”
Yogi Adityanath then proceeded to hit out at TMC for practising appeasement politics. “Appeasement politics for the sake of votebank has endangered the security of not only West Bengal but also of the country. The TMC government has a problem with refugees getting citizenship but has no issue with illegal immigrants coming to the state,” said the former Lok Sabha MP from Gorakhpur.
Yogi has already started dominating the headlines and has put the TMC on the back foot as the party scrambles to counter the popularity of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.