Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that Mamata Banerejee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) is now "fighting for existence" and asserted that the elections in West Bengal are going to be "one-sided".
In his recent interview with ANI, PM Modi said that West Bengal is going to be the "best-performing" state for BJP in 2024.
"In Bengal elections, TMC party is fighting for existence. You must have seen it in the last assembly elections, we had three seats. The people of Bengal took us from three to 80. We got a lot of support in the Lok Sabha in the last elections. This time, the best-performing state in India is going to be West Bengal. BJP is getting [the] most success in West Bengal," he said.
In 2019, BJP won 18 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal in a big jump from just 2 in the 2014 election. The TMC won 22 seats.
Moreover, in the 2021 assembly elections, BJP improved its tally to 77 from just 3 in 2016.
Earlier, Union home minister Amit Shah had predicted that BJP will win 24-3o seats in West Bengal this year.
Citing BJP's growth in the state, PM Modi said that TMC leaders are "frustated" because the election in West Bengal will be "one-sided".
"There are constant murders and attacks. The BJP workers are being locked in jails before the elections. Despite all these atrocities, the public is coming out in large numbers to vote," PM Modi added.
PM Modi also attacked TMC over the Calcutta high court's decision to cancel all OBC certificates issued in West Bengal after 2010.
The Prime Minister referred to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's earlier remarks of not accepting the high court verdict on OBC certificates and said "they are abusing the judiciary".
"They have a modus operandi. First, they started the sin of giving it to minorities by making a law in Andhra Pradesh, they lost in the Supreme Court and the High Court rejected it because the Constitution does not allow it. So they cleverly started the game from the back door and these people overnight made all the castes of Muslim as OBCs and they robbed the OBCs of their rights...When the high court's judgment came, it became clear that such a big fraud was taking place. But what is even more unfortunate is that for vote bank politics, now they are also abusing the judiciary. And they are even saying that no matter what happens, we are not going to listen to the court. This situation cannot be acceptable under any circumstances," he told ANI.
Voting has concluded in 33 out of 42 seats in West Bengal in the six phases of the Lok Sabha elections so far. The remaining nine constituencies will vote on June 1 in the final phase of the general election.
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