Shah in WB to Boost BJP for WB Polls; Union Home Minister to Visit Barrackpore, Siliguri

Kolkata: Union home minister Amit Shah embarked on a two-day West Bengal visit on Friday evening to supervise BJP's preparations for the upcoming Assembly Election here amid the Election Commission's special intensive revision of the voters' list.

This is Mr Shah’s first tour to the state after Trinamul Congress supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee virtually spoiled an Enforcement Directorate raid by obstructing it at two premises linked to her party's political consulting firm, I-PAC, over money laundering in the coal smuggling scam.

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi remained silent on Ms Banerjee's controversial act in his speech during his last visit here, all eyes are now set on the message of Mr Shah who came on a tour a month ago.

The union home minister, after spending the night at a hotel in New Town, will travel to Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas where he will address a party workers rally at Anandapuri ground on Saturday morning.

In the afternoon, Mr Shah will fly to Bagdogra Airport at Siliguri in North Bengal, a stronghold of the BJP, from NSCBI Airport and chair an organisational meeting at Gosainpara. Later he is slated to return to New Delhi.

TMC has already targeted the union home minister over infiltration. It alleged on X-handle, “Every time @narendramodi and @AmitShah land in Bengal, they froth at the mouth screaming “Ghuspaithiya.” And now, in Malda, their own Booth President has been Arrested for sheltering a Bangladeshi National.”

TMC claimed, “So if infiltration is happening, as BJP keeps shrieking, then congratulations, it’s being facilitated under @AmitShah’s watch. He controls border security. He runs the Home Ministry. This mess belongs to him. Period.”

It added, “Infiltration, if it exists, happens through border states with Bangladesh and Myanmar. Who rules those states? BJP or BJP allies. Is SIR happening there? No. Is it happening in Bengal? Yes. Why? Because this was never about infiltration. BJP wants to blur the line between Bengali and Bangladeshi so thoroughly that ordinary citizens are now being Arrested, Assaulted, Detained, Deported, and even Lynched, while BJP leaders shelter actual offenders. This is Criminal Double-Dealing.”