Eye on Bengal polls, PM Modi meeting state BJP MPs

According to an MP who has met the Prime Minister, Modi said that winning the West Bengal polls is very important for the BJP as “the nation wants us to win elections for the security and development of the border state”.

John Barla, MP from Alipurduar, said he has “listed the issues faced by the voters in his constituency”. “I explained to him that the tea gardens in my constituency are facing severe crisis. I told him we should help the people, irrespective of whether they are our supporters or not, as our motio is sabka saath sabka vishwas,” Barla told The Indian Express.

He added that he also raised the issue of “police atrocities on innocent people” during the meet. “I told the Prime Minister that unless we come to power, the state will become like Bangladesh,” Barla said.

The issue surrounding the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) came up during the Prime Minister’s meeting with the MPs and the Prime Minister was keen to know how people have reacted to the changes in the citizenship laws, it is learnt.

Bankura MP Subhas Sarkar said, “I told the PM that the protests against CAA are now confined to TMC people. No public is protesting now. We have been able to convince people that it is a good move.”

“MPs agreed with him that the BJP should win West Bengal for national interest,” Sarkar told The Indian Express.

Another MP said, “The PM asked us about the state, the Assembly segments in our constituencies; the strength and weakness of both the TMC and the BJP and what are the main issues.”

With the BJP banking on the “goodwill” it claims to have earned after CAA, Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda toured the state and held a rally in support of the law in Kolkata on March 1.