Syama Prasad Mookerjee's movement kept West Bengal with India, Amit Shah said in Kolkata

Highlights Amit Shah said Bengal and BJP are not ideologically far apart

He alleged Mamata Banerjee using infiltrators for vote bank

He credited Syama Prasad Mookerjee for saving Bengal during partition

BJP chief Amit Shah today claimed that the perception that Bengal and the BJP are ideologically far apart is erroneous. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the ideologue who founded the Jana Sangh - from which the BJP evolved - was the big link between the two, claimed the Union home minister during his visit to Kolkata today.

Launching a scathing attack on the state's ruling Trinamool Congress, he said, "They are trying to say BJP is an outsider party, it doesn't have anything to do with Bengal".

Then came the claim. "When the entire Bengal was about to go to Pakistan, Syama Prasad Mookerjee had partition done and kept West Bengal for us. Syama Prasad Mookerjee's movement kept West Bengal with India," said the BJP chief, whose party has been at loggerheads with Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress.

The Jan Sangh founder - who was from Bengal - has been one of the key ideologues of the BJP hand has been cited much over the government's sweeping move in Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP chief also referred to the matter today, saying, "By removing Article 370, we have made Kashmir an integral part of India and it was Modi ji's tribute to Syama Prasad Mookerjee".

Syama Prasad Mookerjee was among the first who demanded that Jammu and Kashmir not be given any special treatment. He coined the slogan "Ek desh mein do vidhaan, do nishaan, do pradhaan nahin chalega" - meaning "In one country, there can't two law codes, two prime ministers and two national symbols". If that was done, it might lead to Balkanisation of the country, he had warned.

"Syama Prasad Mookerjee was arrested for his opposition to the Kashmir situation. We are Jan Sangh, BJP wale, we don't let anyone go," Amit Shah said today.

The BJP made huge inroads into Bengal in the Lok Sabha election.

Speaking of the state's contribution to the BJP's huge victory in the Lok Sabha elections, Mr Shah said, "The people of Bengal have shown their desire for Parivartan by giving 18 seats to the BJP. I am sure in the next state polls, under the leadership of Narendra Modi, the BJP will for the government in Bengal".