Union Home minister Rajnath singh with National General Secretary and Incharge West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya, Co- Incharge Weat Bengal and National Secretary Siddharth nath Singh and Suresh Pujari , during a party programme at Ashok Nagar , North 24 paraganas on January 21, 2016. Express photo by Partha Paul. Union Home minister Rajnath singh with National General Secretary and Incharge West Bengal Kailash Vijayvargiya, Co- Incharge Weat Bengal and National Secretary Siddharth nath Singh and Suresh Pujari , during a party programme at Ashok Nagar , North 24 paraganas on January 21, 2016. Express photo by Partha Paul.

Virtually kicking off BJP’s campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls in West Bengal, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday attacked the Trinamool Congress government on the issue of law and order, saying that women, people and even policemen are not secure in the state.

Holding that business summits will not be able to bring in investments in the state unless the Trinamool Congress government improves law and order and ensures good governance, he said at a rally at Ashoknagar in North-24 Parganas district.

“Mamata had called for a change from the 34 years’ misrule of the Left and people had welcomed it. Now, four-and-a-half years after the change (in government), people have realised that they have been fooled… Despite Trinamool’s slogan for ushering in change — ‘Ma-mati-manush’ — even police are not secure here. The government has not been able to bring in any change in Bengal,” Singh told a rally at Kalyangarh Haripur Sanskriti Sangha Maidan.

The second of the party’s four major rallies — the first was addressed on January 18 by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari at Buniyadpur in South Dinajpore — saw a better crowd.

On Thursday, Singh was flanked by state party in-charge Kailash Vijayvargiya, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh and co-observer Sidharth Nath Singh among others.

Taking a dig at the recent Bengal Global Business Summit, which was aimed at attracting investment in Bengal, Singh said: “Mamata Banerjee had organised a summit to attract investment but I would like to tell her that unless law and order situation improves in the state, no one will be ready to invest in Bengal. Investors should be given a commitment of peace, development and good governance.”

Incidentally, the summit held in Kolkata was attended by several Union ministers, including Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari. They had claimed the state is moving towards the right path of development and growth and assured all possible help to the ruling Trinamool Congress on projects.

Taking a dig at the Trinamool regime, Singh said: “While politics is far more peaceful in other states, here in Bengal, Opposition parties are treated as enemies. This has been the tradition since the previous CPM regime and continues now as well. Political parties can compete among themselves but they should not be enemies. Political violence should stop.”

Seeking people’s support in the Assembly elections, Singh said: “The BJP-led NDA government was elected in the Lok Sabha polls. For the first time in independent India, a non-Congress government secured a clear majority. There will be Assembly elections in West Bengal very soon. There will be change in Bengal too. I appeal to you that give us strength in the state Assembly. We will do everything to change the situation in the state.”

“Politics of religion should not be pursued. We will not pursue the politics of religion, but the politics of humanity and justice. But if someone commits a crime, whoever he may be and whichever religion or caste he belongs to, we will not pursue appeasement politics and take strong action against him,” he said.

The minister said there are parties, which try to come to power by pursuing politics of hatred between various communities and castes. “They purse the politics of vote bank and such kind of politics should not be pursued,” he added.

“The people from Bengal tell us that they want change but what will they do? Polling booths are looted. As the home minister of the country, I want to assure you that you all will be able to exercise your franchise in a free and fair manner… I will tell the Election Commission, whatever number of central forces are required, the Centre will make the same available,” he added.

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