Gandhinagar, May 17 (IANS) Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah on Sunday criticised decades of governance in West Bengal, alleging that ordinary people had faced corruption and political interference in daily economic activities for years.

Speaking at a public event in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar after inaugurating and laying foundation stones for development works worth Rs 620 crore, Union Minister Shah compared Bengal’s present condition with Gujarat’s earlier development trajectory and said the eastern state had suffered from a prolonged lack of development.

“If someone made a film on Gujarat in 1964 and then made a film on today’s Bengal, that time Gujarat would score higher,” the union Home Minister said during his speech.

He alleged that for nearly 50 years there had been little developmental activity in Bengal and claimed that political commissions had become embedded in ordinary transactions.

“For buying a tubelight, fan, bricks or cement, commission of the ruling party had to be paid,” he said.

Union Minister Shah also alleged that people bringing goods from neighbouring states at lower prices were also subjected to unofficial collections.

“If someone brought a cheaper fan by train from another state, people would be standing at railway stations to collect tax,” he claimed.

The Union Minister said such conditions had contributed to public dissatisfaction and had created support for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in West Bengal.

He added that people had backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP in search of better governance and development.

Union Minister Shah also linked the BJP’s rise in different parts of the country to what he described as “the party’s grassroots organisational structure and public outreach”.

“Booth-level workers remained central to the BJP’s political success. They maintained a direct contact with people across villages and cities. Party workers consistently worked to address local problems and maintain public trust,” he said.

During the address, Union Minister Shah also spoke about the BJP’s performance in Gujarat’s recent local body elections.

“The party had won all municipal corporations where elections were held and secured victories in a large majority of municipalities, district panchayats and taluka panchayats,” he said.

He emphasised that the BJP’s electoral success was connected to its governance record and the work done by party workers during difficult periods such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

Alongside political remarks, Union Minister Shah outlined various civic projects being undertaken in Gandhinagar.

The projects include sewage treatment plants, water supply systems, internal roads, lake beautification works, community halls, urban health centres, yoga studios and sports infrastructure.

–IANS

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