'Vistaar Yatra': Trinamool even worse than Left, says BJP chief Amit Shah

Siliguri (West Bengal): Kicking-off his 15-day "Vistaar Yatra" (party expansion tour) in West Bengal's Naxalbari, the birthplace of the Maoist movement in India, on Tuesday, BJP President Amit Shah on Tuesday took on the ruling Trinamool Congress as being "even worse" than the state's erstwhile Left Front regime.

He asserted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's development agenda is replacing the violence that was initiated by the Leftists in Naxalbari.

"I have started the tour from Naxalbari. This is not random. This is a huge indication. Communist Party and the Leftists had unleashed violence from Naxalbari. Today I am here to say, where there was beginning of violence, there in the same village, Modi's 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas' mantra is echoing through," he said.

The Naxalbari block in northern West Bengal's Darjeeling district was the stage for an armed peasant uprising in 1967 led by the local tribals that inspired the Maoist movement which spread to various other states through the years. The Maoists are also called Naxalites, the name being derived from Naxalabari.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief minced no words while slamming the Trinamool.

"Earlier we used to say Bengal is regressing because of Communist rule. Then there was expectation of development after Mamata government came in. But unfortunately, Trinamool government is even worse than the Left Front regime," he said.

Taking pot shots at the Trinamool over the Saradha chit fund scam and the Narada video sting footage, Amit Shah said the state government has only indulged in corruption and vote bank politics of appeasement.

"Whether you talk of Sarada or Naradha, the state government has only indulged in corruption. It is promoting politics of appeasement in the name of development. We can see signs of this appeasement policy in their development work," he said.

Amit Shah attacked the Trinamool over fake currency, crude bomb manufacture and Bangladeshi infiltrators.

"They are opposing demonetisation but through Malda, the entire country's fake currency note industry is being run in Bengal. One after the other, manufacturing industries have shut down. There are no industries left... only bomb making factories are working... crude bombs are being manufactured.

"The entire state is reeling under the problem of Bangladeshi infiltrators. Jobs of youths of Bengal are being snatched away by the infiltrators. Do you think Bengal will progress like this? You have seen Communist, Congress and Trinamool, so now it's turn of the BJP," he said.