Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday explained during his Brigade Parade Ground speech in Kolkata what the “asol poriborton” or real change that the BJP is calling for in Bengal is all about.
He alleged that despite the destructive politics of the Left for decades, Bengal’s people never lost their hope for a change. However, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee and the cadres of her party broke into pieces the people’s trust in them for bringing about a change from the days of endless strikes, Modi alleged.
“Bengal seeks development, peace and progress… people are now longing for the real change and I have come here to give you the confidence and assurance that we will work round the clock to unfold a new era of development. We will live and work only for you all the time,” he said.
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He described that in the coming Assembly elections, the ruling TMC and the Opposition front of Left and the Congress were on the one side and on the other side stood the people of the state.
The Prime Minister said that one a BJP government is formed in the state, its priority will be the benefits of the people of the state. The mantra of the government will be “asol poriborton”, or the real change.
“Asol poriborton means education and employment opportunities for the young, to turn it into a place where people do not need to leave the land anymore; to turn it into a place appropriate for business and drawing investment, and to build modern infrastructure befitting the 21st century; to create opportunities for even the poorest of the poor,” Modi said.
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“We will bring back to Bengal whatever have been taken away from her,” he said.
He promised to turn Kolkata into the “city of the future” with massive development of infrastructure. “There will be new flyovers in the city and the incomplete ones will be finished in time. Slum-dwellers will get concrete houses under the benefits of Pradhan Mantri Yawas Yojna,” he said.
Accusing the Congress, the Left and the TMC of prioritising the politics of appeasement, Modi said, “It will be a land where development will be for all and appeasement for none, where infiltration will be stopped. We will ensure Bengal’s politics is centred on development.”
Taking digs at the Left-Congress alliance, which is trying to emerge as the third force in the perceivably bipolar context, Modi said, “The Left came to power with the slogan ‘Congress er Kalo Haat Bhenge Dao Guriye Dao’ (break the black hands of the Congress) and they ruled the state for over three decades. Is kala haath ka kya huya rey? Woh kala haath safed kaise ho gaya? (What happened to those black hands? How did they turn white now?)”
Modi had taken digs at the Left-Congress alliance during his last speech in the state last month as well, indicating that the party was concerned about the third force eating into the anti-incumbency votes against the Mamata Banerjee government that the BJP plans to polarise in its favour.
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The party has not announced a chief ministerial face and is going to the elections with Modi as the prime face.
Modi alleged that the state government was not implementing several of the Centre's projects and was sitting on allocated funds for several crucial projects. “Didi's mantra is: ‘we won't work and won't let anyone work either.’”
Before Modi’s speech, Bengal BJP leaders said that Bengal needed the same party’s government in the state and the Centre to take the state out of a vortex of destructive politics.
This was Modi's third political rally in Bengal this year.
