Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) had failed women and fostered corruption and infiltration, while urging voters to back the BJP in the second phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections.
Addressing a rally in Dum Dum, the Prime Minister made a direct appeal to women voters, calling the TMC an “anti-women” party and pitching the BJP’s “women-led development model” as an alternative. He said voting for the BJP would ensure “freedom” from fear, corruption, syndicates, atrocities against women, unemployment and infiltration.
The Prime Minister slammed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee over her remarks advising women not to step out late at night. He also pointed to the RG Kar Medical College rape and murder case, stressing that it reflected the TMC government’s failure to deliver justice.
“When the women of Bengal ask for justice, TMC tells them not to step out of their homes,” the PM said, adding that the BJP had fielded the victim’s mother as a candidate and had given representation to a Sandeshkhali survivor.
Projecting women as agents of political change, PM Modi said Bengal’s women would write a “new saga of the 21st century” and asserted that a BJP government would reopen “every file of injustice, every atrocity” after May 4.
Calling it “Modi’s guarantee”, he promised punishment for wrongdoers and security for women if the BJP formed the government.
The Prime Minister also reiterated welfare promises, saying poor women would continue to receive free rations and “no syndicate will be able to snatch away your rights”.
Addressing another rally in Jadavpur, PM Modi urged electors to break turnout records in the second phase and place a seal on the TMC’s defeat. He highlighted that the BJP was receiving unprecedented support across professions, with traders, transport workers, teachers, doctors and government employees rallying behind the party.
“The voter turnout in the first phase has ensured the TMC will not even open its account in many districts,” the PM said.
Reiterating the BJP’s promise of Rs 3,000 monthly support for women, the Prime Minister said the BJP government would take steps to empower women and bring criminals to justice.“Those criminals who have been sheltered under the TMC government will face the law,” he said.
The rallies came a day after Phase I polling concluded with a record turnout of 92.88 per cent, according to the Election Commission.
The second phase of polling will be held on April 29, with counting scheduled for May 4.
(ANI)
