Ahead of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah's rally in Kolkata on Saturday, party leader Subramanian Swamy and Minister of State (MoS) for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla have criticised the All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) for allegedly putting up 'Anti-Bengal BJP Go Back' posters in the city and said that they are in fear of losing votes.
"'BJP hatao' is unconstitutional. They expect us to step aside. We understand this as every single day our party is rising. Now we are number two in West Bengal. They fear that all the Hindu votes will go to BJP and they can't win elections with just Muslim votes," Swamy told ANI.
The posters were spotted in and around Mayo Road in the heart of the city.
Shiv Pratap Shukla said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is ready to accept Rohingya refugees, but can't accept Amit Shah's rally in the state.
"Last time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi went there, then also Mamata (Banerjee) had put up hoardings against him. Now she is so much fearful that she can accept Rohingya, but cannot accept BJP president Amit Shah's speech. To make her vote bank, she can bring people from any country," Shukla told ANI.
Citing example of the recently released National Register of Citizens (NRC) list in Assam, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) president Poonam Mahajan said that Amit Shah's rally is against the "u-turn" of Mamata Banerjee.
"In 2005, Mamata Banerjee said something about the NRC Draft which is completely opposite to what she is saying today in 2018. This rally is against the u-turn of Mamata Banerjee," Mahajan told ANI.
On Friday, the delegation comprised of BJP's national general secretaries Kailash Vijayvargiya and P Muralidhar Rao went to Mayo Road and took stock of the preparations and security arrangements for Shah's rally.
Also, some reports emerged that the West Bengal government had denied permission to the BJP to hold Shah's rally, however, later Kolkata Police came in front and refuted the speculations.
Reacting to this, Shah made it clear in Delhi that he would not only go to Kolkata but is even prepared to get arrested.
"It does not matter whether I get permission or not, I will definitely go to Kolkata. If the state government wants, it can arrest me," Shah said.
Since last few weeks, Opposition has been targeting in-power BJP over the NRC Draft, which was released on July 30,
The list left out nearly 40 lakh people in Assam while incorporating names of 2.89 crore people out of 3.29 crore applicants.
Expressing her disapproval over the same, the West Bengal Chief Minister has been accusing the BJP of vendetta politics and said that the party was targeting people in the wake of 2019 general elections.
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