Hitting out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for "spreading lies" regarding the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that the legislation will ensure the safety of the persecuted minorities.
The Defence Minister held three election campaign meetings in West Bengal, including two meetings near the Bangladesh border.
The first meeting was held in Murshidabad for Gouri Shankar Ghosh, the second meeting was held in Malda Uttar constituency for Khagen Murmu and the third meeting was held in Darjeeling for party candidate Raju Bista.
"Mamata Banerjee is spreading lies regarding CAA among the people of Bengal, especially the Muslim community," Mr Singh said at a public meeting in Malda, West Bengal.
"CAA will ensure safety to persecuted religious minorities of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan as they are our people," he added.
He also attacked CM Mamata for her remark of abolishing the CAA and said that "no power in the world" can stop this legislation.
"Mamata Didi said that she would abolish CAA. I want to ask her why she is lying to the people of West Bengal. Politics can also be done by speaking truth to the people. No state has the power to abolish CAA and no power in the world can stop CAA," the former Uttar Pradesh CM said.
Recently, CM Mamata had urged the migrant workers in the state not to return before casting vote in the Lok Sabha elections, alleging that if they don't vote, the BJP government will take away their citizenships.
Attacking TMC and Congress party over 'corruption', he said that no corruption charge has been levelled against the BJP-ruled Centre in the last 10 years.
"The leaders of TMC and Congress are deeply involved in corruption and due to this, they were put behind bars. BJP is in power for the last ten years, and not a single person can point out corruption during the tenure...The way TMC is ruling the state, there is no difference between Trinamool Congress and Congress," Mr Singh said.
The Defence Minister strongly condemned the Sandeshkhali incident -- where several women have alleged molestation and land grabbing by TMC leaders -- and said that no one will dare to repeat such an incident if BJP comes to power.
"West Bengal is known for academicians but under the current regime, criminals are prevailing here. There is an atmosphere of anarchy in the entire West Bengal. The world was ashamed over the atrocities against women in Sandeshkhali and it has dented the image of India internationally. The entire humanity is ashamed of the Sandeshkhali incident," Mr Singh said.
"I assure you if the BJP government is formed here, we will see who dares to repeat the incident like Sandeshkhali," he added.
He also hailed the Women's Reservation Bill passed by the Parliament and said that one-third reservation for women will be granted from the next election onwards.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has held a stronghold in West Bengal. The party won 34 out of 42 seats in 2014. But in 2019, BJP showed a strong improvement winning 18 seats, while TMC's tally came down to 22.
Voting in West Bengal is taking place across all seven phases. Polling were held in three constituencies on April 19. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
