By Rittick Mondal: TMC MP Mahua Moitra hit out at Union Home Minister Amit Shah ahead of his scheduled visit to West Bengal on the eve of Poila Baishakh or Bengali New Year.

The Home Minister’s meeting is crucial to boost the morale of the party workers and leaders ahead of the panchayat polls that are scheduled to be held in May.

Stating that Amit Shah coming to Bengal means there is something good in store for the Trinamool Congress, Mahua Moitra said, “During the 2021 elections, when he made repeated trips to Bengal and insisted on ‘ab ke bar, 200 par’ (this time, we will win over 200 seats), we saw how disastrously the BJP performed in the elections. I have a feeling that each time Amit Shah comes to Bengal, it doesn’t turn out very well for the BJP.”

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Talking about how the BJP claims that it has no room for corruption, the TMC MP said, “On one hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi says there is no place for corruption in the party. On the other hand, you have a Leader of Opposition from your party who is accused in an ongoing CBI investigation.”

Though Mahua Moitra did not take names, it was clear that she was hinting at Suvendu Adhikari, once a close aide of Mamata Banerjee, for his alleged involvement in the Saradha chit fund scam and Narada sting cases. Recently, the TMC also accused Adhikari of being involved in the Bengal teachers’ recruitment scam.

“The BJP attacked him (Adhikari) while he was with the TMC. But the minute he joined the BJP, he has now been whitewashed in BJP’s washing machine. Will the Home Minister be felicitated by the Leader of Opposition, who himself is mired in scams and controversies?” asked Moitra.

MANUFACTURED RIOTING: MAHUA MOITRA ON RAM NAVAMI CLASHES IN BENGAL

Mahua Moitra–the firebrand leader of the TMC and a vocal critic of the BJP–also attacked the saffron party for ‘manufacturing’ the riots that rocked Bengal’s Howrah and Hooghly districts on the occasion of Ram Navami.

“I grew up in Bengal, do you remember this atmosphere of panic and tension every time any religious festival is celebrated in Bengal? When we were growing up, Durga Puja was fun…When Eid came, we celebrated with the Muslims,” said Mahua Moitra.

Also Read | Mamata blames BJP for Ram Navami violence in Bengal, says rally taken out deliberately

“Now, two days before a festival, BJP leaders go to Delhi and meet the Home Minister and on March 30, clashes break out when a procession of Ram Navami is taken out. Ram Navami is celebrated to celebrate the birth anniversary of Lord Ram, who is the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu. Since when has Ram Navami become associated with killings and branding guns?” asked the TMC MP.

Talking about the arrest of Sumit Shaw, the man who brandished a gun during the rally taken out in Howrah on Ram Navami and was arrested from Munger, Mahua Moitra said, “We have his mother saying on record that her son is a BJP worker. Does the Home Minister endorse this? This is manufactured rioting, and we, the people of Bengal, totally condemn it,” she said.

ON OPPOSITION ALLIANCE

Mahua Moitra said that all the Opposition parties are ready to put up a united front against the ruling BJP government.

“I think it is very clear from the recent session in Parliament. Whether it is RJD, TMC or DMK, we all were together and we are all united,” she said.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. They decided to bring as many Opposition parties as possible and put up a united front against the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.