Indian Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday predicted a thumping victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the West Bengal Assembly polls.
Shah claimed that the people of the state want a change from the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) misrule and will embrace Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of development, PTI reported.
“We will win more than 200 seats in Bengal and improve our tally in Assam,” he said.
He added that the BJP has strengthened its position in the state, while the supporter base of the TMC has eroded with a large number of leaders quitting the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
“We won 18 Lok Sabha seats out of the total 42 in 2019 and lost three by small margins,” Shah told PTI.
“That too when people had doubts about our victory. Now they have confidence that we can win. People are yearning for a change and are with us,” he added.
Many prominent leaders have quit the TMC in the past few months and joined the saffron party ahead of the polls.
Shah claimed that although Mamata does not want to see Modi, people of the state are welcoming the prime minister by coming out in huge numbers to support him.
On incidents of party workers showing dissatisfaction over the choice of candidates in the Assembly seats, the home minister said that the BJP will win them over, asserting that it will have no impact on the elections.
Protests had erupted in various areas after newly-inducted BJP leaders were given preference to old party members.
On Tuesday, Shah also countered Mamata’s allegations of religious polarization. He claimed that if raising matters of the public amounted to religious polarization, then it was a “new definition” of the term.
He then asked if the TMC government obstructing Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja processions amounted to religious polarization.
“We are making a positive statement that everyone should observe their festivals,” Shah said.
“We have no objection if someone is observing Ramzan or Christmas. But you cannot impose restrictions on Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja,” He added.
