Bengal polls: TMC supports tukde-tukde gang that vowed to snap Siliguri Corridor, says PM Narendra Modi

KOLKATA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said Trinamool Congress is backing a “tukde-tukde gang”, which he said had once threatened to sever the strategic Siliguri Corridor so the northeast could be split from India. Speaking at a BJP election rally in Siliguri, he also called Trinamool an “anti-north Bengal” party.“Siliguri is the gateway to national security. The Siliguri Corridor is not merely a word. It’s an arm of a strong nation. The tukde-tukde gang in the country had threatened to sever the Siliguri Corridor. They wanted to separate the northeast from the rest of India,” Modi said. “Trinamool supports such groups, in Parliament and on the streets. This is their true face.”The PM referred to infiltration in north Bengal, which he said is changing the region’s demography.

“Language and culture are changing, while jobs are being usurped. If this can’t be stopped now, it’ll be too late,” he said.Alleging that Bengal’s governing party has an “anti-north Bengal” bias, Modi said the Trinamool dispensation went ahead with its Durga Puja carnival on Red Road in Kolkata at a time when vast swathes of north Bengal were reeling under devastating floods last year.“When several districts in north Bengal faced a crisis after heavy showers and people were crying for help, TMC’s nirmam (cruel) govt was celebrating in Kolkata,” Modi said.

“Trinamool has intentionally kept north Bengal backward. Over the years, people suffered negligence. Central funds were usurped by Trinamool’s men,” Modi said. “While north Bengal received insufficient funds, the state govt gave Rs 6,000 crore to madrasas.”He contrasted Trinamool’s “neglect” with BJP’s plans for north Bengal, which includes the proposed Sevok-Rangpo rail link that will connect Siliguri with Sikkim.

He cited “the Vande Bharat Express from Malda” and redevelopment of major stations such as New Jalpaiguri, Siliguri and Kamakhyaguri as proof of his party’s commitment to the region.BJP’s manifesto for the upcoming Bengal assembly elections has promised an AIIMS and a cancer hospital for north Bengal. IIT and IIM campuses, a sports university and a highway linking the Sunderbans with Darjeeling are among the other assurances.In an attempt to reach out to Matuas and namashudras, many of whom have lost their voting right following the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral roll, the PM urged them not to fall for Trinamool’s “jhooth ki factory (factory of lies)”.“Matua and namashudras should be aware of Trinamool’s lies,” he said, trying to assuage their fears over the Citizenship Amendment Act. “Modi is with you and the Constitution is with you.

CAA has given you constitutional rights; Trinamool cannot harm you.”The PM promised voters that Trinamool will be made accountable for its deeds over the past 15 years and urged them to assume that each and every BJP candidate is Modi. People of Bengal, who have elected Congress, Left Front and Trinamool to office, should now give a “chance to Modi” to restore the rule of law.