Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched a no-holds-barred attack against the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal, charging it with "throttling democracy" and running a "syndicate raj" without whose approval nothing moves.
Addressing a 'Kisan Kalyan' rally here, the prime minister also reached out to farmers and said his government was working to double their incomes by 2022.
The people of West Bengal will get freedom from the "misrule" of the Trinamool Congress within a few months, Modi said at the farmers' welfare rally in an apparent reference to the coming general elections.
The rally was marred by the collapse of a makeshift tent put up at the venue. Officials said 67 people, including 13 women, were injured.
Mounting an all out attack against the TMC government, Modi, who later visited the injured in hospital, said nothing can be achieved without the approval of the "syndicate" in West Bengal.
Referring to TMC posters with photographs of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee around the rally venue, Modi said, "Even the TMC cannot deny our achievements. They have put up posters of didi (Mamata) with folded hands welcoming the prime minister."
"We all know the condition of West Bengal under the present regime. Those who spoke of Maa, Mati, Manush (the TMC slogan) have been completely exposed. They are running syndicates. Democracy is being throttled and brutalized in the state."
Several commissions were set up to look into the issue of increasing MSP but nothing happened, he said, adding, "Farmers are the soul of India. A country can't develop fully until and unless there is development of farmers."