Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday cautioned the people of Basirhat and Barasat against the possibility of riots which she warned the BJP may engineer to create trouble before polling in the two constituencies for the Lok Sabha elections. Both constituencies will go to the polls on 1 June in the last phase of the seven-phase elections. Trinamul Congress has fielded Hazi Nurul Islam in Basirhat, replacing Nusrut Jahan who had won in the 2019 election.

The BJP has fielded Rekha Patra, the main face of the movement in Sandeshkhali which falls under this constituency. The Trinamul Congress has nominated Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, the sitting MP, for the third consecutive time from Barasat. “After the conspiracy of BJP failed in Sandeshkhali, they are now planning to engineer riots in the area to disturb peace. We are not going to tolerate this. We will foil any attempt to organise riots and give stringent punishment to those involved in such incidents. The BJP does not believe in development and does divisive politics. They let loose one community against the other,” she said while addressing a public meeting at Medudandi Sluice Gate Football Ground in Basirhat constituency this afternoon. Coming down heavily on the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Miss Banerjee said: “I have never seen such a Prime Minister in my life who speak more lies than truth.

Every day he is coming to Bengal to speak volumes of lies. He is making false promises. Rest assured that there is no Modi wave this time because everybody knows that whatever he says is bogus,” she said. Miss Banerjee said BJP should not have played with the dignity of women in the trouble-torn Sandeshkhali area as the “saffron camp’s conspiracy now stands exposed”. “I am sorry for whatever has happened to the women of Sandeshkhali and the way they have been humiliated.

I express my sadness from the core of my heart. Nobody should dare to play with the dignity of women,” Miss Banerjee said. While reiterating that the BJP will not be coming back to power, Miss Banerjee added: “We need more seats as stronger we are in Bengal, it will be possible for us to make the INDIA bloc stronger in Delhi.” She said Trinamul Congress is an integral part of INDIA bloc but “we are not siding with the Congress in Bengal. It is a party that is holding the hands of CPI-M which had unleashed a reign of terror in Bengal for 34 years. Our memory of CPI-M is fresh and we still remember the way they had killed our supporters,” she said.

She said the BJP had withheld the dues of 59 lakh job card holders under the MGNREGA, which the state government had cleared. “ Take it from me: We will pay the first instalment of the Awas Plus scheme to 11 lakh beneficiaries by 31 December this year. The BJP does not have money to pay the dues, but it is spending crores of rupees to give false advertisements in the media,” she remarked.

Miss Banerjee said the state government will prepare a master plan for Sunderbans and Basirhat will be a new district. Also, there will be a proper scheme for the bheris. The bheri owners will have to pay a fee to the state government and will not be allowed to encroach upon the property of others. She urged people to vote for the Trinamul Congress that keeps promises and carries out all-round development without any discrimination.