Lok Sabha Polls 2019: Mamata Banerjee Upset As Officers Not Letting Her Rig Polls: Amit Shah

BJP president Amit Shah today said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's allegations of the centre imposing a "parallel government" in the state using officers for political purposes were "baseless". Asserting that his party has put "special focus" on West Bengal to "reinstate democracy", Mr Shah said the BJP wanted to give refugees their deserved rights and drive out infiltrators.

"(Chief Minister) Mamata (Banerjee) is complaining about the election process here because the Election Commission (EC) has taken up necessary measures to conduct free and fair polls. The EC is conducting elections across the country and we are contesting everywhere. So, we have different opponents in different states. But none of the states have raised complaints about EC's work apart from Mamata," he said.

"This means the EC is stopping her from rigging the votes. That's why she is coming up with baseless allegations," claimed Mr Shah.

"If the EC is doing something wrong, then complaints would have come from other states too," he added.

At a public meeting in Nadia's Gayeshpur yesterday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said, "We are an elected government in Bengal, but the BJP is bypassing us, sending people from Delhi and running a parallel government here."

"This is unconstitutional," she added.

Referring to the first two phases of polling in Bengal, Amit Shah claimed that there is "a clear wave" in favour of the party and urged the people of the state to cast their votes "without fear".

"When a village would go out to vote together, handful of goons will not be able to harm them in anyway," he said.

Urging the people to ensure that the BJP wins more than 23 out of 42 seats in the state, Mr Shah pledged to end the "syndicate raj".

In West Bengal, "syndicate" means the business run by persons allegedly enjoying political patronage, who force promoters and contractors to buy construction materials, often of inferior quality at high prices.

Lashing at the West Bengal chief minister for allegedly running a "mafia raj" in the state, Mr Shah claimed that the state has topped the chart in cow smuggling and was a safe haven for infiltrators.

"Mamata-led Trinamool is running a 'mafia raj' in the state. The state has achieved the distinction of topping the chart in cow smuggling and turning the state into a safe haven for infiltrators," Mr Shah claimed.

The BJP chief accused Ms Banerjee of making West Bengal a bankrupt state where only her relatives and Trinamool Congress ministers have flourished.

He also accused Trinamool of creating obstacles in Durga Puja celebrations, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "recommended Bengal's Durga Puja celebrations be included in the UNESCO World Heritage list".

The BJP chief accused the Trinamool government of creating obstacles not only for Durga Pujas, but also for celebrations of other festivals like Saraswati and Laxmi Pujas, Ram Navami and Bijoya Dashami.

Mr Shah alleged that Ms Banerjee, who is vehemently opposed to the contentious National Register of Citizens (NRC) that is currently restricted to Assam, was misleading people, and vowed to introduce it in every state after winning the polls.

"It is our commitment to bring in NRC across the country to chuck away each and every infiltrator. First, we would bring Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, so that all the refugees get citizenship, and then we will bring NRC to throw out infiltrators," he said.

Ms Banerjee has repeatedly claimed that the NRC, which seeks to weed out illegal migrants from Assam, will turn even bonafide Indian citizens into refugees.

The NRC has triggered a massive controversy after the names of around 40 lakh people, living in Assam for decades, were omitted from the complete draft that was released last year.

(With Inputs from IANS and PTI)