Trinamool shielded Sheikh Shahjahan in Sandeshkhali case because of his name, says Modi

Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi tore into West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) Friday, accusing it of shielding its leader Shahjahan Sheikh because of his name.

At an election rally in Bardhaman, West Bengal, Modi said Dalit women were sexually abused in Sandeshkhali but the Trinamool kept protecting the culprit. “Why? Is it because his name was Shahajahan Sheikh?” the prime minister said amid cheers of “Modi-Modi”.

Modi added that the Trinamool treated Hindus as “second-class citizens” in the state.

“A TMC  MLA has given an open threat. He said he would drown Hindus in the Bhagirathi within two hours. What kind of language and political culture is this? What is happening with the Hindus in Bengal?” asked Modi.

He said party workers got him to listen to a Bengali song by the women of Sandeshkhali after he landed in Kolkata on Thursday night. He couldn’t stop his tears, Modi said, even though the song was in Bengali.

“These poor women of Sandeshkhali are not singers or poets but mere labourers. Yet they sang a song, banging on tables and narrating their ordeal,” the prime minister added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated Dilip Ghosh to fight Trinamool candidate Kirti Azad, former cricketer-turned-politician, in the Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency.

‘Vote Jihad’ against Modi

Lashing out at the Opposition, Modi said the Trinamool had failed to bring in development and was only dividing people and asking them to do “vote jihad”.

The phrase was thrown into the electoral narrative by Samajwadi Party leader Maria Alam, the niece of Congress leader Salman Khurshid, who, speaking at a public meeting in Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad constituency earlier this week, urged the public to practise “vote jihad” in the Lok Sabha polls.

She said people should vote “with intelligence, without getting influenced by anyone, without being sentimental and with silence”.

Modi told the Bengal crowd Friday that the Trinamool was asking people to engage in “vote jihad” against him, adding: “The people of this country know what jihad is. The Congress, Left and TMC — this INDI alliance is silent over ‘vote jihad’,” he said.

Modi also reiterated his charge that the Congress was proposing to scrutinise people’s finances, it they would “divert towards the vote bank of jihad”.

“Congress plans to conduct an X-ray of  your homes, fields, income, and lockers. They will steal your income and channel it to the vote bank of the jihad. Will you allow your money to be looted and your  mangalsutra snatched?”

Modi also attacked the Left Front’s silence over the Congress’s “plans”, saying the parties were two sides of the same coin.

The prime minister also invoked B.R. Ambedkar, saying the leader had vehemently opposed reservation based on religion, but the Congress was planning to do the same.

“The Congress wants to snatch reservations and rights of the SCs, STs, OBCs, and give it to the jihadi vote bank. The Congress wants to change the Constitution,” he said.

He added that the marginalised were no longer with the Congress. “The Adivasis, Dalits and OBCs are voting for Modi because of our development work. For a long time, these groups were the loyal vote bank of the Congress… They are angry now and want to snatch your rights and give them to the Muslims.” Modi also said the Congress had initiated this “vote jihad” policy in Karnataka.

He challenged the Opposition, saying he wanted it to “give the people in writing that they won’t change the Constitution based on religion, won’t snatch reservations of SC, ST groups, and wherever they have a state government, they won’t cut the OBC quota and give it to Muslims”.

“I have these clear demands but they are silent. As long as Modi is alive, I won’t let them loot you,” the prime minister said.

(Edited by Tikli Basu)