West Bengal BJP chief Dilip Ghosh, in a controversial statement on Sunday, 8 November, issued a warning to supporters of the Trinamool Congress workers, saying that they should mend their ways or they risk having their arms and legs broken and even being killed.
The statement, made at a rally in Haldia, came just two days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Bengal ahead of the Assembly elections in 2021. Shah has set an ambitious target of winning 200 of the state's 294 seats.
“Didi’s brothers who are creating trouble should change their habits in the next six months otherwise you will have your arms, leg, ribs and head broken. You’ll have to take a trip to the hospital. And if you do more than that, then you will have to go to the crematorium.”
The upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls have already intensified with sharp rhetoric exchanged between the BJP and Trinamool Congress. Claiming that the days of the Trinamool government are numbered, Mr Ghosh said central forces will ensure free and fair Assembly elections in the state, an NDTV report stated.
"When there was Lalu Raj in Bihar, there used to be Jungle Raj, violence was a daily affair but we drove out the goons - this is called BJP Raj. We changed Jungle Raj to democracy and we want to restore democracy in West Bengal too," he said.
“I want to make an announcement that the upcoming Assembly elections will not be done under Didi’s police but by Dada’s police. Police wearing khaki dress will stay a hundred metres away from booths under the mango tree, sitting on a chair, chewing khaini and watch the vote,” he said.
Congress leader Jitin Prasada condemned Ghosh’s statement and tweeted, “Irrespective of political differences no one should be reducing the political discourse to the level of a street fight or the language of a common thug.”
“What makes it worse is that the head of the BJP state unit resorting to this !” he added.
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