Mamata Banerjee reduced West Bengal to state of penury : Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath

Kolkata, Mar 25: BJP leader Yogi Adityanath Thursday said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has reduced the state to extreme penury with no intention of developing it but "promoting goons and extortionists".

Speaking at three public rallies in Sagar assembly constituency in South 24 Parganas, Chandrakona in West Midnapore and Nandigram in East Midnapore here, Adityanath said that Bengal once upon a time was the most advanced and progressive state in the country.

"Bengal was once an advanced state and progressive too. But first the Congress, then the Communists and now the Trinamool Congress have destroyed the industrial development of the state and allowed corruption to blossom unbound," he said. He said the count down has begun and after 35 days BJP will form the government in Bengal.

"The people of West Bengal are yearning for jobs and development. People will be benefitted by the development which will take place then". The Uttar Pradesh chief minister said the soil of Bengal has produced great patriots like Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

Referring to Syama Prasad Mukherjee, the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, Adityanath said he raised his voice against Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir which has been scrapped by the BJP-led government at the Centre fulfilling his dream. He said the saffron party leader Suvendu Adhikari, once a follower of Banerjee had shown courage to leave TMC and join BJP with the vision to create a prosperous state.

Hitting out at TMC, Adityanath said it had "successfully produced goons and extortionists who have destroyed the development of the state". He claimed that in the last ten years under Mamata Banerjee's chief ministership, people did not get money in their hands though funds had been sent by the Centre like after Cyclone Amphan.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given Rs 1000 crore to the state just after Amphan cyclone. That money never went to the hands of the people but was taken away by TMC leaders," he said. Adityanath said people of UP have received benefits of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the PM Ujjwala scheme, Ayushman Bharat and farmers under Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme.

"Then why the people of West Bengal will be deprived of these benefits ? This shows TMC is not bothered about the development of the state," he added. He said once the state gets the government by the party (BJP) that is in power at the Centre, then benefits will flow to the people of the state.

Commenting on Mamata Banerjee's opposition to 'Jai Sri Ram' slogan of BJP, Adityanath said there was a government in UP which also disliked it like her. "But the people of UP overthrew the government and brought BJP into power".

Taking a dig at the TMC supremo, he said she is only keen to protect the infiltrators and has always encouraged the politics of appeasement to preserve her vote bank. "If BJP is given a chance to come to power in West Bengal, infiltration will be stopped", he said. Adityanath said India is fighting terrorism under the leadership of Modi.

"Earlier, Pakistan used to enter Indian territory and launch attacks. But, now Indian jawans are launching surgical strikes destroying terrorists camps in that country", he added.