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AAP supporters hurl filthy abuses at each other over Kumar Vishwas

OpIndia Staff
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AAP supporters hurl filthy abuses at each other over Kumar Vishwas

The humiliating defeat in MCD polls, which came after similar defeats in Goa and Punjab assembly polls, have taken heavy toll on the Aam Aadmi Party. Former party leaders like Yogendra Yadav and Mayank Gandhi criticised the party for losing track, which was followed by current leaders like Bhagwant Mann and Kapil Mishra too calling for serious analysis rather than coming up with EVM tampering excuse.

The latest to join this plan speak was senior leader Kumar Vishwas, who in an interview to a news channel echoed similar sentiments. Somehow this didn’t go well with some die-hard supporters of Arvind Kejriwal who decided to attack him and his supporters.

These supporters included a vocal and known face of AAP’s online support base named Navendu Sigh, who had earlier met Arvind Kejriwal in person. He led the attack against Vishwas calling him “Laundiabaaz”, “Kaamraaj” and “pervert”. It is interesting to note that these same supporters used to attack BJP and media when they questioned about alleged affairs of Kumar Vishwas.


Navendu Singh has since deactivated his account, but not before claiming that Kumar Vishwas was spreading his photoshopped pictures after he spoke against the poet-leader.


He also tweeted that Kumar Vishwas and his team were trying to harass and scare him for speaking against the party.


This mud-slinging between Kumar Vishwas supporters and Arvind Kejriwal supporters continued for hours. One supporter claimed that abuses and libelous statements like branding someone a rapist were being used in the party:


The mess didn’t stop here. Ankit Lal, the head of social media cell of AAP threatened above supporter by tweeting pictures of shoes:


The worst was yet to come. Aam Aadmi Party keeps mentioning that party supporters receive death threats from rival parties. However, this time the ugly fight between party members soon escalated to FIR and death threats.


The supporters of AAP are unleashing all their weapons which against each which they used against other supporters of other parties a few days back. One of the supporter of AAP has rightly pointed out that AAP is killing itself and no one else can be blamed for it.


Arun Jaitley releases book by someone who was excited over possibility of Narendra Modi’s death

OpIndia Staff
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Arun Jaitley releases book by someone who was excited over possibility of Narendra Modi’s death

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today released book of a controversial television reporter who had once tweeted that the news of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, then the Chief Minister of Gujarat, contracting Swine Flu excited her.

While a politician is free to socialise and help anyone he deems fit for the job, what made the matter worse was the fact that the official Twitter handle of Ministry of Finance tweeted out this news:


It should be noted that the book had got nothing to do with Finance. The book is titled “Behind Bars” that apparently chronicles stories about certain popular personalities who had to spend some time in jail in connection with various cases.

It is written by an NDTV reporter called Sunetra Choudhury, who had once tweeted this about Narendra Modi:


In 2009, India had witnessed a Swine Flu pandemic that left over a thousand people dead. Any instance of contracting of this disease was seen as a serious medical challenge back then. On October 30, 2009, the Gujarat Government announced that its then Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who had just returned from an official trip to Russia, had tested positive for Swine Flu.

While it was a great cause of concern for BJP supporters and sensible people in general, Sunetra was feeling excited. The tweet was never deleted and she never apologised or explained what was so exciting about Narendra Modi getting a disease that was killing people.

With such a background, a senior BJP leader choosing to release book by such a person raised people’s eyebrows on social media. Not just a senior BJP leader, it was a case of a senior Cabinet Minister in Narendra Modi government using the government platform to promote a book by a person who virtually wished the current Prime Minister dead.

Sunetra Choudhary works as a field reporter cum anchor for NDTV, a struggling TV news channel that is under investigation by Jaitley’s own tax authorities on allegations of money laundering (a charge the channel vehemently denies).

There is even a book titled “NDTV Frauds” that talks about these irregularities by the news channel. That book was released by BJP leader Dr. Subramanian Swamy, who incidentally is no fan of Arun Jaitley.

Sunetra however, is not the only journalist or media person who had directly or indirectly wished Narendra Modi dead. Earlier a reporter with TV news channel Times Now had wished the same, but later deleted his tweet. Another author published by the news website The Quint had wished similar, which, for a change, led to his association with the news portal being cancelled.

AAP government slashes budget for a major electoral promise by 98%

OpIndia Staff
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AAP government slashes budget for a major electoral promise by 98%

Aam Aadmi Party has been the latest major addition to the Indian politics and its rise has been nothing short of meteoric. After being launched in November 2012, the party enjoyed spectacular electoral success when it won 67 out of 70 seats in the 2015 Delhi assembly elections.

Apart from riding a strong anti-corruption plank and its supposed commitment towards providing clean transparent governance, one of the factor which contributed towards the party’s success were its election promises.

Certain promises like providing subsidized power and free water have been fulfilled, but other major promises that need actual groundwork to get going are languishing in oblivion.

One such major promise was the installment of CCTV cameras in Delhi Transport Corporation buses. This was pegged as an instrumental step towards ensuring women safety. But now just as the party look like fading from electoral limelight, this promise too might slowly be becoming history.

As per latest reports, the Delhi Government has decided to slash the Rs 100 crore budget earmarked for this project by a whooping 98%. An internal audit of the transport department till January 2017 showed that for the 2016-17 fiscal, the state government’s allocation for the project was slashed from Rs 90 crore to a paltry Rs 1 crore and the center’s contribution was brought down from Rs 10 crore to Rs 1 crore.

One of the issues why the project is unable to take off is the dispute between the Delhi Transport Corporation and the state transport department over who should be in-charge of the project. This issue has occupied matters so much that there has been zero utilization of the allocated amount for the scheme.

This isn’t the only scheme whose future is in the limbo, other promises like free Wi-Fi, women protection force, and a Jan Lokpal are also pending.

No funds were apparently allocated for the free Wi-Fi project during the Delhi government’s 2017-18 budget. The explanation afforded was that the government was still figuring out which transmission model to use for the deployment. Some models in contention were laying fiber optic cables or setting up of hotspots.

The status of the Delhi’s Lokpal is that as claimed by AAP government sources the bill has been passed by them but is pending approval of the center. Even if the lokpal bill is passed and enacted, there seem to be certain fundamental issues which might render it ineffective. The bill reportedly has not provided the Lokpal with the power to appoint its own staff, has no independent budget, has no dedicated investigation wing and can only recommend action against individuals and bodies rather than taking them.

Another promise of the party was the setting up of a citizen security force for women’s safety. This too seems to be pending and no funds have been allocated for this in the 2017-18 budget. The justification provided by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia was that this security force and its functioning came under the Delhi police, which was completely under the authority of the Center.

Kashmir – the solution lies in being honest about the problem. And here it is

Abhishek Banerjee
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Kashmir – the solution lies in being honest about the problem. And here it is

Say “Kashmir” out loud and you immediately get to hear words like “alienation”.

As problems mount for the Indian state in Kashmir, slick “experts” have emerged from the woodwork to intellectualize the situation, essentially to make the stone-pelters’ case for them. Adding to the self-satisfaction of these vanity classes is the fact that this is happening while the Bharatiya Janata Party is in the saddle in New Delhi.

Meanwhile some intellectuals have started counting their chickens before they hatch. A few days ago, the formidable Pratap Bhanu Mehta declared, with barely, concealed glee, that “Kashmir has been lost on Modi’s watch”.

They say that Kashmir’s youth have finally lost all patience with the government in Delhi. Their hopes and dreams have all been belied. They no longer trust anything we say. They want “Azaadi” and they are going to take it now. They have been “alienated” to this hopeless extent.

At the core of this “alienation” hypothesis is an assumption that has never actually been challenged. The assumption is that Kashmiris are angry because of the way life turned out for them inside the Indian state.

Why? How do you know Kashmiris are angry because of something we did?

Obviously, you will point to pellet guns and all, but I am not talking about the incidents in last few months. The “Kashmiriyat” brigade is feeling “alienated” since time immemorial.

Let’s examine the foundations of the “alienation” hypothesis. What is the problem with the Indian state in Kashmir? Misgovernance? Corruption? I would be eager to know if there is any part of the country where misgovernance and corruption has not been endemic. No, that can’t be it.

Did India run some kind of extraction colony in Kashmir, snatching their natural resources? Absolutely not. On the contrary, Article 370 prevents other Indians from buying property in Kashmir. This protection is a purely one way street, since Kashmiris are allowed to freely acquire property in every part of the country.

In fact, the Indian state has always showered J&K with money. Further, the Indian state has always looked the other way as the lion’s share of this money was cornered by Kashmir by denying Jammu (and Ladakh) their due. Ironically, the latter two regions consist almost entirely of loyal citizens who would never dream of raising a hand against India.

Then where is this “alienation” coming from? I hear that the polls of 1987 were rigged and Kashmiris are angry about this. Seriously? They are still angry about rigged elections from 1987? Prior to the days of the legendary T N Seshan, most elections in India were marked by large scale fraud. Booth capturing and ballot box stuffing were routine. I believe it is not until 2005 that Bihar finally got to vote in a free and fair election. But the “Bihari separatist movement” has mostly been a non-starter. Wonder why?

Is it because of AFSPA? If the extraordinary violence in the Kashmir valley were to stop tomorrow, does anyone seriously believe that AFSPA would continue? Further, that is a chicken and egg problem.

Here’s an alternative hypothesis: The separatist Kashmiri Muslims hate us because they think they are fighting a battle with us that goes beyond this world and its worldly concerns. They are fighting to turn Kashmir from Dar-al-harb to Dar-al-Islam.

To “win” in Kashmir, we have to understand the motivations of the enemy. We have to understand what the enemy wants.

In this case, the enemy thinks they are being divinely guided from heaven. We can’t pacify them with “earth based incentives” of money, development schemes, jobs, etc.

Once we come to appreciate this, we can take the right steps in Kashmir. We have to lay down the law and make it clear that Dar-al-Islam in Kashmir doesn’t stand a chance. That resistance is futile.

Does that mean that we are doomed to fight an endless bloody war in Kashmir? Absolutely NOT.

Islam, incidentally, is a faith that makes surprisingly pragmatic prescriptions to its followers so as to address specific circumstances. For instance, a practice in Shia Islam called Taqqiya allows believers to deny their faith when faced with persecution. Really savvy, isn’t it? In a similar vein, Islamic scholars generally agree that Muslims should obey the laws of the country in which they live. Thus Islam generally does not recommend fighting foolish battles in which there is no hope of victory.

The reason there is still fighting in Kashmir is because they think they have a chance. The “alienation” brigade is fuelling this illusion, which makes them so dangerous. Take away this hope and Kashmir will be peaceful.

Kashmir is not a conflict about “alienation” or “rigged elections”. It’s a conflict about religion. The solutions begin only with accepting this fact.

Delhi Metro says passengers used public Wi-Fi to play porn on display screen

OpIndia Staff
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Delhi Metro says passengers used public Wi-Fi to play porn on display screen

The Delhi Metro had suffered a huge embarrassment on April 9 when one of their LED screens at Rajiv Chowk station had started playing a pornographic clip reportedly for at least 10 minutes. The incident soon received nationwide attention and also became the butt of various jokes.

A week later, on 17th April, it was reported that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had started probing the incident. The initial findings had suggested that the DMRC was questioning staff members, including those of the contractual company that was tasked to run the LED screens. Interestingly the probe authorities had also indicated that commuters could also have had a possible involvement in this case.

Now the DMRC has submitted the probe report to the Delhi police has reported put the blame for the incident on mischievous commuters.

Reportedly, three young men have been identified as culprits based on CCTV footage near the site. The probe also points towards a dramatic series of events where the youths were allegedly doubling up their phones as remotes to control the led screen and then played the porn clip via Wi-Fi on the TV.

The probe report also claims that the TV screen was newly commissioned and did not yet have security features enabled, which had rendered its Wi-Fi port open. The police who have been given all the CCTV footage of the are now trying to track the movements of the young men and ascertain their identities.

Assuming the Delhi Metro’s version is correct, it still doesn’t negate the fact that insiders or staff members too might have also been responsible for the whole fiasco. Even though the said process used by the youths is certainly possible, it needs a smart TV with an open Wi-Fi port which is accessible to all. Plus the whole process of turning the mobile into a remote, operating it in front of all people, plus connecting it over an open Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi direct connection is a remarkably cumbersome and does point to serious security lapses.

Even though in this case the video was used to play a porn clip, in the future such a flaw may also be misused for some dangerous business like spreading rumours or disseminating wrong passenger info, which might spread panic in one of the most crowded metro stations of Delhi.

Priyanka Gandhi bought land, 4 years later sold it back to owner at 5.3 times the original price

OpIndia Staff
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Priyanka Gandhi bought land, 4 years later sold it back to owner at 5.3 times the original price

Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s daughter Priyanka Gandhi has been found to have undertaken a land transaction that is raising some eyebrows.

According to reports, Priyanka had bought 5 acres of agricultural land in Amipur village in Faridabad district of Haryana for Rs 15 lakh on April 28, 2006. That piece of land was resold to the original owner around four years later on February 17, 2010 at a price of Rs 80 lakh.

While the nature of transaction itself is intriguing, what complicated the matter further is that it came under the radar of Dhingra Commission, which was set up in May 2015 by the new Haryana government led by BJP’s Manohar Lal Khattar to look into some deals involving Robert Vadra, husband of Priyanka Gandhi. Vadra had received money from real estate company DLF, and the commission looked into th possibility if a part of that money was used by his wife to buy properties in Faridabad in Haryana.

In a statement issued by her office, Priyanka said the source of funds for the land purchase was “rental income” from the property “inherited from her maternal grandmother” and it had nothing to do with Robert Vadra or his business/land deals or with the DLF.

However, a clear reading of the statement issued by Priyanka’s office suggests that she had brought the land at circle rate (much lower than market rate at virtually all places) and then sold it at market rate. Though this is not illegal, one wonders why the seller would settle for such a transaction.

While Priyanka Gandhi appears safe as of now, Justice SN Dhingra Commission in its report has reportedly concluded that Robert Vadra made unlawful profits of Rs 50.5 crore from a land deal in Haryana in 2008 without spending a single paisa. The Commission has sought an inquiry into the property bought by Vadra and his businesses. The Haryana government has recently submitted the report in the Supreme Court.

After the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government took the reins in Haryana, it constituted a one-man commission headed by (Rtd) Justice SN Dhingra in 2015 to probe the illegal land deals. Vadra is accused of buying 31 properties in and around Delhi from DLF’s unsecured loans at prices that were much lower than the prevailing market rate.

Further, there were allegations that realty giant DLF had enjoyed a quid pro quo with Vadra in the illegal land deals. Vadra’s company Skylight Hospitality is accused of buying a 3.5 acre plot in Shikohpur village near Manesar at a cost of Rs 7 crore and then selling it to DLF for Rs 58 crore. The previous Congress government in Haryana allegedly tweaked the rules to facilitate the illegal deal.

Now with this latest revelations, it appears that Priyanka Gandhi too has made profits by buying and selling lands. As of now, she is denying any wrongdoing in her dealings, though the BJP has decided to make it an issue:


This is not the first time Priyanka got caught in an illegal property deal. Earlier in 2010, Priyanka’s summer holiday home in Charabbra village of Shimla came under scanner. She was accused of building the house on a land she had allegedly acquired illegally.

Gautam Gambhir to bear full educational expenses of children of Sukma martyrs

OpIndia Staff
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Gautam Gambhir to bear full educational expenses of children of Sukma martyrs

In a touching gesture, cricketer Gautam Gambhir has pledged to bear all the education related expenses of the children of the 25 CRPF jawans who were martyred in Sukma on 24th April. This attack was one of the deadliest by the Maoists in recent times.

The sacrifice by the CRPF jawans have now spurred Gambhir’s decision which was confirmed by his media manager:


According to reports the support would be extended via the Gautam Gambhir foundation and initial steps have already been taken in this regards. Gambhir was reportedly spurred to take this decision after he was shaken by the incident and the pictures of grieving daughters of two martyred CRPF jawans.

The Sukma attack had also evoked an emotional response from Gambhir on Twitter:


This tragic incident had also prompted the IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders, of which Gambhir is the captain, to wear black armbands during their match on Wednesday. This idea too was reportedly suggested by Gambhir.

Gambhir is known to be a vocal supporters of our security forces. Recently after the CRPF Jawans were assaulted by Kashmiri locals, Gambhir had taken to Twitter to support the armed forces, which had prompted certain trolls to attack him for his stance.

AAP feels tremors of MCD results with resignations and plain speak by leaders

OpIndia Staff
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AAP feels tremors of MCD results with resignations and plain speak by leaders

The results of the MCD elections that were declared on Wednesday turned out to be a disappointment for the AAP after it managed to win only 46 of 270 seats, coming a distant second to the winner BJP which bagged 184 seats.

This electoral failure in their so called bastion, compounded by the recent disappointments in the assembly elections has started to affect the party in the wrong ways. Recent incidents of resignations by party workers and various leaders speaking frankly is resulting in the party feeling the tremors of the MCD elections.

Today AAP leader Bhagwant Mann openly came out to state that instead of finding faults with the EVMs, it was time to start finding faults within the party. He also asserted that no doubts were raised against the EVMs when he became a MP by a huge margin in 2014 and when AAP won 67 out of 70 seats in Delhi assembly elections.

Mann is not alone, AAP Minister Kapil Mishra too acknowledged that it was not proper only to blame EVMs for the loss and that the party should also introspect as to why it had to see such a day. An anonymous AAP MLA from Central Delhi too was in agreement with Mishra’s view.

These statements come after senior members of the party have taken pains to blame the EVMs for the loss. Deputy CM Sisodia had claimed that BJP’s victory in the MCD elections was due to EVM tampering. This view has been echoed by party leader Ashutosh.

Party leaders disagreeing with the party’s explanation for its loss isn’t the end of AAP’s problems. The party now also seems to be getting embroiled in some kind of a Resignation-gate.

On Wednesday party leader Alka Lamba had offered to resign following the party’s loss in the MCD polls. Initially it was thought to be a token gesture which all party leaders make after electoral setbacks. But the resignation episode has grown since then.

Now Senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh has resigned as the party’s in-charge in Punjab. Along with him the party’s Punjab co-observer Durgesh Pathak has also resigned. Apart from them, AAP’s Delhi unit convener Dilip Pandey and AAP’s Delhi in-charge Ashish Talwar have resigned from their posts.

All this upheaval seems to have forced Kejriwal to take an emergency stock of the situation by calling a meeting of his legislators. It remains to be seen how the party endures the crisis on its hand especially when there might be further bad news next month when the Election Commission is set to decide on a complaint which seeks the disqualification of 21 AAP MLAs for allegedly holding an office of profit.

MCD polls and the garbage heap of liberal hypocrisy

Abhishek Banerjee
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MCD polls and the garbage heap of liberal hypocrisy

So the BJP went ahead and crushed the Aam Aadmi Party in the polls for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). One can only imagine the kind of pain this must have caused among certain sections of celebrity patrakars and analysts.

Here, they were grooming AAP to take the national stage, joyfully speculating on its prospects in Goa, in Gujarat, in Uttarakhand and even Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh (besides, of course, the “sure shot” victory in Punjab). And what does AAP actually do? It makes a fool of itself in Punjab, sinks without a trace in Goa, loses its deposit in Rajouri Garden and folds up below 50 wards in the MCD.

It is like the pain of an anguished parent who had been getting his child all the best coaching with the hopes of seeing him top the IIT entrance. Instead the child fails to even pass the 10th standard board exam.

The media does not seem to have immediately bought their child’s excuse that the questions on the board exam were deliberately biased against their kid. They haven’t openly backed the EVM excuse… yet.

But they have gone into full-throated whining against BJP winning the MCD polls allegedly on the issue of “nationalism” rather than “governance”.

Throughout the day, as the results came out and the analyses rolled in, the intellectuals mourned the degeneration of our democracy. It was said that the BJP had run the MCD into the ground. But they were still rewarded by the public. All because of “nationalism”, which is a dirty word in their dictionary.

An election has just been won on an issue other than governance. This totally new and surprising development surely opens a dark new chapter in the story of independent India.

Before April 26, 2017, few could imagine that politicians could go to the voters and ask for votes based on anything other than “governance”. By doing so, apparently, the BJP has gone where no party has ever gone before. The Pandora’s Box has been opened.

A sample of this vilaap may be found here in an article that appeared on NDTV:

Untitled

Someone has to call out this hypocrisy!

The BJP had a winning strategy for MCD. They went with it.  Loser “liberals” can’t hate on them simply because BJP won.

They say that BJP ruled MCD reduced Delhi to a heap of trash and still won. I don’t live in Delhi (sorry for this unpardonable offense), but I can certainly tell that this whining has just added to the garbage pile of liberal hypocrisy.

You folks care about agenda of “governance”? This was just a municipal poll. Nitish Kumar also had 10 years to run Bihar. Did you complain when Nitish Kumar went over to Rs 1000 crore convict Lalu Yadav to help win the election? Back in 2015, did the moral giants of today insist on Nitish Kumar running on the agenda of “governance”?

Forget that, in India, it has always been morally okay to use “secularism” to win polls. The BJP comes up with “nationalism” as a strategic counter and suddenly liberals wake up to realize that Indian democracy has lost its innocence. Ha!

Incidentally, other than secularism, the other big plank on which Nitish Kumar is running is a dubious moral crusade around “prohibition”. In enforcing this agenda, Nitish Kumar has broken every single one of the basic principles of a modern legal system, instituting legal punishment to whole families and even entire communities based on the “crime” of a single person consuming alcohol. As many as 44,000 people have been arrested in Bihar over this. Unlike the Maoists of Bastar, it is not clear whether these 44,000 people were entitled to human rights.

Some of Nitish’s over zealous ministers have gone so far as to promise the death penalty for alcohol. Not just any minister, but Mr. Abdul Jalil Mastan, who is actually the Minister in charge of Prohibition in the Bihar government. It is also a coincidence that Mr. Abdul Jalil Mastan is a member of the minority community, a coincidence that Islam sees alcohol as an absolute haraam and a coincidence that Muslims were the core votebank of the Mahagathbandhan that won Nitish the election in Bihar.

Agenda of governance?

Enough about Bihar. Believe it or not, Manipur is an actual state in the Indian Union. The Congress party had been ruling it forever. I don’t remember any intellectuals getting on their moral high horse about the agenda of governance when Okram Ibobi Singh tried to win the election by igniting the Naga vs Meetei fire.

Please! Don’t mention the infamous words on “tyranny of distance”. Mainstream media regularly goes to the most dangerous parts of Kashmir to do hard hitting stories on the pain of headmasters and their sons. They could have told the world what the Congress was doing in Manipur if they chose to. But why would they choose that?

Obviously, these are only recent examples. If I were really trying to compile a full list of elections where political parties didn’t contest on the plank of “governance”, Kanhaiyya Kumar would get his PhD before I finish my list.

Liberals have to come to terms with the fact that the BJP has beaten them silly in the MCD polls. The strawman that they dressed up as a superman to take on Modi has been sucker punched by the public. Why not just mourn in a dignified manner?

BJP’s Mission Bengal activated, Amit Shah’s new clarion call ‘Ebar Bangla’

Saswat Panigrahi
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BJP’s Mission Bengal activated, Amit Shah’s new clarion call ‘Ebar Bangla’

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah has charted the party’s Mission Bengal during his three-day tour to the state. Shah’s Bengal visit is part of his 95-day-long countrywide whirlwind tour to galvanise the party cadre and expand the BJP’s footprints ahead of the 2019 elections.

Pertinent to mention that Shah’s nationwide tour has started from West Bengal. So why is Bengal important in BJP’s scheme of things? So far, the state has been one of the unconquered territories of the saffron party. This time Amit Shah is sanguine about the BJP striking gold in West Bengal.

On 26 April, Shah addressed booth level workers at Bhowanipore, the backyard of TMC chief Mamata Banerjee. Bhowanipore, which comes under South Kolkata Lok Sabha constituency, was once the stronghold of Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the precursor of the BJP.

“The BJP rules 70 per cent of the country. But I feel until it comes to power in Bengal, the mission of Ebar Bangla (Bengal Now) will not be accomplished. The lotus will bloom in Bhowanipore too,” the BJP president said.

Ebar Bangla (Now Bengal) is the new clarion call for the BJP in Bengal as the party readies itself to “liberate” the state from Mamata’s misrule and recreate a Sonar Bangla (Golden Bengal).

This is not to dispute that in the upcoming elections, the BJP is going to use Saradha chit fund scam and the Narada scam as its trump card.

Saradha chit fund scam, a financial scandal caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme run by Saradha Group, has put the Mamata Banerjee government in a tight spot. Deposits of as many as 17 lakh investors in the State – majority of them from low-income families – were duped.

Investigations have revealed that a lion share of the chit fund money had reached Bangladesh-based terror outfit Jamaat-e-Islami. A number of TMC MPs and MLAs were questioned and even arrested in connection to the case. Further, the CBI has booked 12 TMC leaders, including some ministers and MPs, in Narada sting case. After the Saradha chit fund scam, Narada sting has pushed the TMC into a further corner. Both the scams have big implications on Bengal politics.

“Let us free Bengal from the cycle of Narada and Sarada. Let us liberate Bengal from the politics of decades of decay,” Shah thundered.

The seven year long Mamata rule has seen wide minority appeasement and anti-Hindu politics with Bengal slowly turning into a communal cauldron. A wave of riots has hit the state hard.

“The situation in Bengal is worrisome. Instead of Rabindra Sangeet, the sounds of bombs are now heard in the state. TMC’s appeasement politics has attacked the very heart and soul of Bengal,” the BJP president said while addressing a Press conference in the city.

“Sonar Bangla has been destroyed over the years because of the politics of neglect and appeasement,” he added.

Pointing out the difference between the TMC and the BJP, Amit Shah said, “TMC used chit funds to take money from poor, while the BJP has initiated Jan Dhan Yojana and empowered the poor.”

“I am confident that in the manner the BJP is growing, we will emerge with highest number of Lok Sabha seats from the state,” he said.

In a powerful address to eminent citizens in the state at the historic Mahajati Sadan in Kolkata, Shah recalled that Bengal was once the centre of cultural nationalism.

“The politics of violence and appeasement by Mamata Banerjee cannot stop the BJP chariot in Bengal,” he said.

The BJP president has kicked up the party’s expansion drive from Naxalbari village in Siliguri on 26 April. Naxalbari was the birthplace of the Naxal movement in late 1960s and early 1970s. What had started as a left-wing peasants uprising took the turns of a violent Red Terror affecting the country.

Symbolism has its importance in politics. Amit Shah’s visit to Naxalbari, a day after 26 CRPF jawans were martyred in a Maoist ambush in the neighbouring Chhattisgarh, certainly bears its significance.

“This Naxalbari gave birth to violence that affects country even today. Here we pledge to Modiji’s motto of Sabka saath sabka vikas (Together with all, development for all),” he said.

“TMC may think that it can stop Modiji’s chariot in Bengal, but they cannot. The more they try to stop us, the more the lotus will bloom here,” the BJP president said. “In 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP will get the maximum number of seats in West Bengal,” a confident Shah said.

After launching the BJP’s Bengal expansion plan from Naxalbari, Amit Shah had a traditional meal served on a banana leaf at a tribal house.

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