Darjeeling, April 15 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Tejasvi Surya on Wednesday accused the Trinamool Congress of fostering “goonda raj” in West Bengal, alleging that it has led to “deindustrialisation” in the state.

Campaigning here ahead of the April 23 and 29 Assembly elections in the state, Surya alleged that Bengali identity, culture and pride are “being harmed” under the leadership of West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee.

“Local resources are being affected by allowing illegal infiltration and providing documents like ration cards, Aadhaar cards and voter IDs to them,” he told reporters.

The BJP leader further alleged that allowing infiltration is a “conspiracy” by the Trinamool Congress to expand its “vote bank”, leading to Bengali identity and culture being “compromised”.

Stating that the BJP is against illegal infiltration, he said: “We want to protect Bengal’s culture, language, resources and employment opportunities for the state’s youth.”

Calling Bengal the land of Swami Vivekananda, he said, “West Bengal was known as the intellectual and cultural capital of India. Today, due to Trinamool’s ‘goonda raj’, deindustrialisation has taken place here.”

He also drew a comparison between West Bengal’s development and that of Karnataka.

“I come from Bengaluru where lakhs of Bengali youths live and work. People travel that far to get proper treatment in Bengaluru’s medical colleges and hospitals. Why are people forced to travel thousands of kilometres to Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru?” he said.

“For 15 years, why has no big hospital, university or any skill university of global standards been established in the state? In fact, big industries are leaving from here. This is the history of Bengal in the last 20 years,” he alleged.

Surya said that people are angry with the Trinamool Congress-led government and are hoping for change.

“Whether in the hills or the plains, there is a strong atmosphere of change across the northern region of West Bengal. The Trinamool Congress government has been in power for the last 15 years and has been involved in corruption, atrocities and misgovernance. No one feels safe, neither women nor youth, and people have lost hope,” he reiterated.

He expressed confidence that this time the BJP will have its “biggest win” in the state.

“This will open a new golden chapter in the development of West Bengal,” he asserted.

–IANS

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