Abhishek Banerjee Slams HM Amit Shah Over His 'Better Govt In Bengal After 2026 Polls' Remark

(MENAFN- IANS) Kolkata, Sep 26 (IANS) Trinamool Congress general secretary and party's Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee on Friday criticised Union Home Minister Amit Shah over the latter's comments about a better government in West Bengal after the Assembly elections in the state next year.

"I prayed to Maa Durga so that after the Assembly elections next year, the people of West Bengal get such a government which would lead the state towards prosperity. Let peace return in West Bengal. Let us create Bengal in the way imagined by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore,” the Home Minister said at the inauguration of the community Durga Puja pandal of Santosh Mitra Square in central Kolkata earlier in the day.

Reacting to this comment later on Friday, Banerjee said:“HM Amit Shah should first answer when the Rs 2,00,000 crore of Central funds would be released. In reality, they are anti-Bengal and anti-Bengali, and our struggle against these anti-Bengal and anti-Bengali stances would continue."

Ridiculing HM Amit Shah over his comments earlier in the day, where he described Durga Puja in West Bengal as a globally acclaimed occasion now, Abhishek Banerjee said that before saying this, the Union Home Minister should withdraw and apologize for his earlier comments that Durga Puja was not celebrated in West Bengal.

“Today, he is inaugurating a Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata. He said five years ago, there were no Durga Pujas in Bengal. Today, Bengal's Durga Puja has been recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage site. No festival from BJP-ruled states has received such recognition," Banerjee said.

Earlier, on Thursday, BJP national president J.P. Nadda announced the name of Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav as the in-charge of the party's campaign for the crucial West Bengal Assembly polls scheduled next year.

At the same time, the name of the party Lok Sabha member and the former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, has been announced as Yadav's deputy. A notification, on this count, was issued by the party's central leadership on Thursday afternoon.

Insiders from the party's state committee in West Bengal said that both Yadav and Deb would shortly in the coming days hold a meeting with the top state party leader to prepare an initial campaign blueprint for the party.

Earlier this month, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leadership had a“coordination meeting” with state BJP leadership in Kolkata, with the focus of discussion being the state assembly elections next year.

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