KOLKATA/MALDA: PM Narendra Modi brought up the issue of recurring violence in Bengal’s Murshidabad during his rally in neighbouring Malda district Saturday, specifying demographic imbalance and infiltration as the underlying causes.Murshidabad’s Beldanga continued to see vandalism as highways and railway tracks were blocked for the second day in protest against continuing violence against Bengalis in Jharkhand and Bihar.“Infiltration is impacting local culture and language and riots in districts like Murshidabad and Malda are on the rise because of this. You have to break the nexus of infiltrators and those in office,” Modi said at the rally, about 150km from the violence epicentre, adding “demographic balance” was being “disturbed at a few places”.“Every developed nation is driving out infiltrators. It’s essential in states like Bengal. But that’s not possible as long as TMC is in office,” he said, blaming “TMC’s syndicates” for the mess. Modi blamed “TMC’s goons” for attacks on media personnel in Beldanga. “They have behaved indecently with a woman journalist. No one takes cognizance of women’s plight in Bengal.”The PM moved on to BJP’s pre-poll concerns, trying to assure Matuas and Namasudras the Constitution had given them the right to stay here. “CAA has given them full security,” he said. BJP has faced internal dissent in the Matua belts of North 24 Parganas and Nadia, with party MPs and MLAs often speaking in different voices and the community hitting the streets to protest against their “victimisation” in SIR. TMC seniors, including CM Mamata Banerjee, have visited these areas to address concerns. A person from the community died this week, prompting his family to blame “SIR worries”.Modi sought to portray TMC as a party of “the cruel and corrupt”. “They are Bengal’s enemies. They are busy filling up their pockets,” he said, adding TMC’s days were numbered. He alluded to corruption allegations during flood relief, slamming TMC for “looting even during a crisis”. “Bengal will reach new heights by the ideals of Rishitulya Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay,” he said. Modi’s “Bankim-da” address in Parliament a few weeks ago had prompted Trinamool to allege Modi and BJP were “culturally alien” to Bengal.Modi inaugurated rail and road infrastructure projects worth Rs 3,250 crore after flagging off a Vande Bharat sleeper train linking Howrah and Kamakhya and four Amrit Bharat Express trains.He blamed TMC for lack of investment in industry and farmers, alleging this was fuelling migration, and said it was the only state where people were not allowed benefits of Ayushman Bharat.
