New Delhi/ Bengal:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today ripped into political rivals in Bengal ahead of state elections as he linked the global social media outage on Friday to what he described as a slow pace of development in the state. In his election speech, he attacked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and other political parties that have ruled Bengal in the last five decades.

Stressing that the state is desperately waiting for change, the Prime Minister said: “Last night, for 50-55 minutes, WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram were down that left everyone worried! Here in Bengal, development, belief, dreams have been down for 50-55 years, and thus, I understand your impatience to bring in a change!”

On Friday, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger – all Facebook services were briefly down around the world. The services were restored at around 11:30 pm. In his address, PM Modi linked the voters’ expectations with the anxiety of social media users.

Reaching out to the state’s youth, he said: “Didi has wasted 10 very crucial years of the youth of Bengal. Her party is the school of cruelty, and its syllabus is Tolabaji, cut-money, syndicate and is a training centre for harassing and troubling people.”