PURULIA: Resuming his campaign in Bengal with a new take on Trinamool’s “khela hobe” catchphrase and more than a smattering of Bengali, PM Modi on Thursday declared “vikas hobe, chakri hobe (there’ll be development and jobs)” to voters in Purulia before delivering the punchline: “Didi-r khela sesh hobe (Didi’s game will be up) and Bengal’s journey to development will begin on May 2”.
The PM peppered his “development” narrative with references to Trinamool’s “appeasement politics” and its alleged culture of “tolabaazi (extortion)” and “cut money”.
“Otyachar onek korechho, Didi. Bhoi dekhanoi tomar ostro. Rukhe darabe ebar Banglar manush. Ma Durgar ashirbade korbe tomay porasto (You have tortured people enough. Your only weapon is fear-mongering. People of Bengal will rise in opposition. They will defeat you with the blessings of Ma Durga),” he said at Hutmura in Jangalmahal.

“I know how your rights and benefits are being denied. If Didi had any concern for the backward communities, she wouldn’t have turned this region into a hotbed of Maoists. People in Bengal know how coal mafia and the sand mafia are getting indulgence here.”
As in his first Brigade rally in Kolkata on March 7, PM Modi said Trinamool even distribution of relief in the wake of the devastation wrought by cyclone Amphan last year wasn’t spared by Trinamool’s alleged system of taking cut money. “They (Trinamool) wanted the victims to deposit commission in the party office first to get relief materials,” Modi said. “Under this process, you can get relief even if you didn’t face any loss. We believe in direct benefit transfer (DBT). They believe in ‘transfer my commission’, which stands for TMC. This is why Ayushman Bharat or the PM Kisan Nidhi schemes were not implemented, because ‘TMC’ doesn’t apply in those projects.”
The PM accused Trinamool of never considering Adivasis, backward classes and Dalits, who constitute a large section of voters in the Purulia belt, as its own. “These sections have been the worst victims of the cut-money culture and tolabaazi by the party,” he said.
Questioning why water-starved Purulia didn’t have a water project yet, PM Modi said these were issues BJP would address. “The khela (game) over recruitment of teachers will also be done away with.”
Modi reminded the gathering that 36 lakh people in Bengal had received free LPG connections under the Bharat Ujala Yojana. “We have also increased MSP for forest produce. We have made huge allocations in the Budget for the education and employment of Adivasis and Dalits. Hundreds of Eklavya schools are being opened.”
Targeting CM Mamata Banerjee for her “stand” on issues concerning national security, the PM said, “People of Bengal have a strong memory. Bengal remembers who accused the Army of plotting a coup, and whose side you (Mamata) took during the Pulwama attack. People remember the stand you took when Delhi police officer Mohan Chand Sharma was killed in the Batla House encounter. A Delhi court has since exposed the forces behind it. The court sentenced one of the accused to death for killing the officer. These people (Trinamool) had sided with the terrorists and questioned the encounter.”