Rampurhat (WB)

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday launched a blistering attack on the ruling TMC, alleging that West Bengal had been pushed into an "identity crisis" over the past 15 years because of corruption, extortion and the rise of what he described as "mafia rule".

Addressing an election rally in Birbhum district's Rampurhat in support of BJP candidates, Adityanath said the people of Bengal no longer needed the TMC and urged them to back the BJP in the upcoming assembly polls.

"For the last 15 years, Bengal has been facing an identity crisis. Terror, extortion, corruption and mafia raj have become the state's identity under the TMC," he said.

The BJP leader alleged that an atmosphere of fear had been created among common people, particularly women and youth.

"The people are living in fear. Daughters and sisters are not safe, the youth have no future, and the mafia has flourished under political protection. The BJP is committed to ending this mafia culture," he said.

Seeking to draw a parallel between Bengal and Uttar Pradesh before the BJP came to power there in 2017, Adityanath said his state too had once witnessed frequent riots, lawlessness and large-scale corruption.

"The situation that Bengal is witnessing today existed in Uttar Pradesh nine years ago. There was anarchy, fear, riots, criminal gangs and rampant corruption. Funds meant for development were looted," he said.

Claiming that Uttar Pradesh had undergone a transformation under the BJP government, Adityanath said the answer to Bengal's problems was a "double-engine" government.

"Nine years ago, riots used to take place every second or third day in Uttar Pradesh. Festivals could not be celebrated peacefully. Women were unsafe, hooliganism was at its peak and criminals and mafias controlled everything. Today, the situation has changed completely," he said.

"The only remedy for Bengal is a double-engine BJP government," he added.

Adityanath also accused the ruling dispensation in West Bengal of siphoning off central funds.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi sends money from Delhi for the poor and for development, but TMC leaders and their supporters loot that money before it reaches the people," he alleged.

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Invoking BJP ideologue Syama Prasad Mookherjee, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said the Centre under Prime Minister Modi had fulfilled his vision by scrapping Article 370.

Adityanath's remarks come amid an escalating war of words between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress ahead of the assembly elections, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee repeatedly accusing the saffron party of trying to impose its politics and undermine Bengal's culture and identity.