Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said in an interview that he was confident of the the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) securing big gains in West Bengal. He added that the Trinamool Congress (TMC), led by Mamata Banerjee, is fighting for survival in the state. The ongoing Lok Sabha elections are being conducted in West Bengal in 7 phases, with the last phase to be held on June 1.
In the last phase, polling will take place across Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin, and Kolkata Uttar Lok Sabha seats.
"TMC party is fighting for survival in the Bengal elections. This time, the best performing state in India is going to be West Bengal. BJP is getting maximum success in West Bengal," Prime Minister Modi said in an interview with news agency ANI. "The election of West Bengal is one-sided, people are leading it and because of that people sitting in the government, TMC people are frustrated," he added.
He attributed this to huge voter turnout in West Bengal in last 6 phases of the Lok Sabha elections despite BJP leaders being put in jails before polls and other atrocities. Doing some number crunching, the Prime Minister said that the BJP secured 3 seats in the previous assembly elections but the people of Bengal took the tally to 80.
Moreover, the Prime Minister also chided the state government over its reaction to the Calcutta High Court's order vis-a-vis OBC quota to Muslims. Modi said that it is unfortunate that the TMC is abusing the judiciary for vote bank politics, while adding this cannot be accepted under any circumstances.
"When the Calcutta High Court's judgment came, it became clear that such a big fraud was taking place. But what is even more unfortunate is that for vote bank politics, now they are also abusing the judiciary... This situation cannot be acceptable under any circumstances."
He also claimed that the Andhra Pradesh government tried to provide reservation to minorities by making a law, which was rejected by the High Court as the Constitution doesn't allow so. "So they cleverly started the game from the back door and these people overnight made all the castes of Muslims as OBCs and they robbed the OBCs of their rights," the Prime Minister explained.
Last week, the Calcutta High Court rejected other backward class (OBC) certificates awarded to 77 communities after 2010, most of whom were Muslims. The High Court also called the process of classification illegal and also barred the TMC government from appointing people belonging to these communities with immediate effect.
Indicting the TMC, the High Court said, "This court's mind is not free from doubts that the said community has been treated as a commodity for political ends." The court further mentioned that the chain of events leading to the classification of the 77 classes as OBCs and their inclusion was to treat them as a vote bank.
It also mentioned that identification of classes in the Muslim community as OBCs for electoral gains would leave them at the mercy of the political establishment and may deny other rights. It further noted that the Constitution prohibits reservations based solely on religion.