Shah Assures 'Constitutional Solution' To Gorkhaland

Mr Shah also called Trinamul Congress supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her MP nephew Abhishek Banerjee Sarganah of Tukre Tukre Gang and declared that BJP, if comes to power in the state, would not allow the construction of Babri Masjid-styled mosque by Aam Janata Unnyan Party founder Humayun Kabir in Murshidabad.

On the Gorkhaland issue, the union home minister told a BJP poll campaign rally at Gangarampur in South Dinajpur, “We will find out a constitutional solution to the Gorkha issue in Darjeeling without making any partition of Bengal. We will also build four big cities in North Bengal.”

Targeting Tukre Tukre Gang, Mr Shah alleged, “A leader used to call for cutting off Chicken's Neck from Siliguri to separate it from North East. Why? Is this your father's country? The Tukre Gang that exists to seek separation is headed by none other than Didi and her Bhaipo. I would like to remind Didi: This is the land of India. Don't even dare to put an evil glance on it. People of Bengal are going to oust you.”

On the upcoming Babri Masjid-styled mosque, the union home minister claimed, “Didi wants Babri Masjid be built by her side Kabir here. She should be aware of BJP coming to power. We will not allow any Babri Masjid to be built here. Kabir is an agent of Didi. He is building it on her instructions. But Didi's time is up now.” He later addressed two more party rallies in Malda and held a roadshow.

Ms Banerjee however hit back at him in a veiled attack over the arrest of an I-PAC co-founder and director Vinesh Chandel by the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi on Monday night in a case linked to coal scam. “Orders are being given to arrest TMC workers. ED/CBI are conducting raids at night. If one is arrested, a thousand will rise. If a thousand are held, a lakh will rise. Let them arrest as many as they can. We will emerge victorious again,” she said at a TMC rally in Jagatballavpur Howrah.

The TMC chief also pointed out that logical discrepancy, used in the special intensive revision (SIR), was never an officially recognised term in the Election Commission framework and has been selectively applied in Bengal. Meanwhile Congress scion Rahul Gandhi blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Vote Chori by deleting voters' names through the SIR and Ms Banerjee for BJP’s rise in Bengal after he kickstarted his poll campaign by addressing three rallies, one each in North Dinajpur, Malda and Murshidabad.

Mr Gandhi also labelled Mr Modi as a puppet in the hands of US President Donald Trump and “selling the country” abroad. He argued, “Mr Modi sold off India in the trade deal with the US. He is not 'Desh Bhakt' (patriot), he is 'Deshdrohi' (traitor),” before pointing out that data security, which is of paramount importance as a country's strength has been built on it, has been handed over by the PM to the US. “National security has been badly harmed by this,” the leader of the opposition observed.

He further alleged that the Modi government has made a commitment to the US that it would buy goods from it worth ₹9.5 lakh crores. “If American goods enter India like a tsunami, our country's small and medium scale factories will close down. This will cause double loss for Bengal since chief minister Mamata Banerjee has already closed down industries in the state. But who is giving chances to BJP in Bengal? It is TMC. Ms Banerjee has allowed BJP to grow in the state," Mr Gandhi claimed. Attacking the TMC for failing to provide jobs, he further tore into the BJP-RSS over weaponising hatred to pay divisive politics.