Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee addressed a public meeting at Harahar Ground in Kushmandi, which is in the Balurghat Lok Sabha constituency.

Highlights of his speech:

Seeing the enthusiasm here today, I can safety tell my leader Mamata Banerjee that the people of Balurghat are all for Trinamool Congress.

Arpita Ghosh is standing from here for the second consecutive time. Hope you all will support her and elect her.

I can see many cameras here. I challenge everyone to prove me wrong in anything that I say here today. I speak solely on the basis of facts, and don’t try to confuse people unlike some people.

Elections are happening in two constituencies in Bangla today, and I have credible information that the manner in which the people are voting, Trinamool Congress will win both the seats.

Hence out of the 42 seats, we have already won got two seats. Therefore, we need to win 40 out of 40 now.

I can say with conviction Arpita Ghosh will win by two lakh votes.

This seat, and the election in general this time, is very crucial. This fight is between our Agnikanya Didi and the communal Modi.

The BJP has scared other leaders into keeping quiet, but they couldn’t do that to Mamata Banerjee.

Nothing that Modi had promised – ‘achhe din’, two crore jobs per year, roads, engineering colleges, etc. – has come true.

In the name of ‘achhe din’, he brought about ‘notebandi’ for the people, along with all the related desperation, while he himself toured foreign countries in luxury.  

He had said ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’ and what did he do instead? Price cooking gas cylinders at more than Rs 900 a kg and build a seven-star party office in Delhi.

Two months back the price of cooking gas was Rs 977 per cylinder. Then there was a sudden climbdown. The reason was the BJP’s massive loss in five State elections.

Similarly, the prices of atta, kerosene, petrol and diesel, and rates of GST, came down.

Therefore, it has been proved that the more you defeat the BJP, the more the prices of everything will decrease.

The BJP is trying to buy out the people of Bangla, but Bangla will never allow that, whatever happens in other States.

For us, religion is personal, for practicing in our homes, and not for achieving political ends.

However, for elected representatives, there is only one religion – humanism – and their duty is to ensure that the fruits of development reach every corner of their constituency.

Trinamool Congress has nothing to learn from a party which has done nothing for the people. We have always believed in serving the people.

All of you wanted money to be spent for the development of Balurghat, and what did you see instead? Rs 3,000 crore spent on a statue, and a pittance in comparison for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, which is for the development of girls.

Therefore the intention of Modi is only to show-off, and not to serve the people.

Modi believes in ‘Jai Shri Ram’, but only for his own ends.

The way Trinamool Congress works for the people, no party does.

Modi called himself a simple chaiwallah, but he was never a real chaiwallah, nobody had seen him selling tea; on the other hand, our Mamata Banerjee has always led a simple life – governing the 10 crore people of the State from the same humble house where she had always lived in.

During the massive floods in the State, Mamata Banerjee had visited areas in knee-deep water to know first-hand and feel for herself the miseries of the people.

With due respect to the other chief ministers of Bangla, none of them ever did this kind of work, or had this kind of involvement in the welfare of their people.

Mamata Banerjee has come to Balurghat again and again and every time, brought with her bouquets of development for the people.

People stood in long queues during demonetisation, hoping things will improve. But they are in same state, still living in poverty.

Therefore choose wisely and vote for the party which has brought development for you.  

The Centre has again and again backed out of providing any help to Bangla. The changing of the name of the State to ‘Bangla’’ has not been passed in two years.

Despite the State Government providing 40 per cent of the funds, the Centre wanted the name of the scheme to be ‘Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana’. We just wanted what was just, that the scheme be named ‘Bangla Gram Sadak Yojana’.

The BJP leaders have never cared for Bangla. They are lecturing here, giving speeches about their so-called concern for yet, yet leave alone everything else, they can’t even read a single word of Bengali.

Farmer suicides have spread across the country; 150 people have been killed while just standing in queues.

As a result of GST, many small businesses were closed, and they were owned by people of all religions, including Hindus. So is this the way you work for the welfare of Hindus, as you proudly boast of doing?

After demonetisation, black money and terrorism, which were supposed to have stopped, have only increased. An example is the Pulwama blast, where 350kg of RDX was used.

The BJP keeps note of who what eats in their homes yet was not aware of how so much explosive was smuggled into the country to cause the blast in Pulwama.

You say you work for the jawans of our country. Yet look at their State. You all know how, a few months back, a video went viral of a BSF jawan complaining about the pathetic quality of his daily food. And what was the done for him? He was sacked from his job. All of you know that the same jawan has stood against Narendra Modi in Varanasi.

I challenge Modi take action against me if I have told a lie.

I don’t stab in the back; I say whatever I have to say on the face.

Over the last five years, Arpita Ghosh has come here again and again to know about your problem, and has raised your demands in Parliament. She has come here repeatedly despite the long distance from her home.

Therefore vote for her once more this time, and be assured that there will be double the development of the last five years in the next five.

There has been development in every field, in every sector, for every person.

The prime minister had promised for everyone Rs 15 lakh, but none of you can say that you have received that amount. What did you get in its stead? Waves of development, in the form of schemes like Kanyashree, Yuvashree, Rupashree, rice at Rs 2 per kg and so many others. Mamata Banerjee always delivers on her promises.

After May 23, a new government will be formed at the Centre, and rest assured that the prices of fuels and cooking gas, and GST rates will all come down.

People like Nirav Modi and Vijay Mallya were allowed to loot the people’s money and escape from the country. On the other hand, Mamata Banerjee ensured that Sudipta Sen was caught, even from a far corner of Kashmir, and brought to justice.

The Centre has imposed GST on biscuits that we eat everyday at a rate of 18 per cent while on gold biscuits that only the super-rich buy, at 3 per cent. This is the real face of Modi.

Practising real Hinduism is not about teaching divisiveness, but about having confidence in its values, including that of inculcating respect for other religions.

Mamata Banerjee has done for people of all religions much more than Modi has done, even for those in BJP-ruled States.

There has been a huge improvement in the conducting of the Gangasagar Mela, and improvement in many other ways, like the creation of the Tarakeswar Develeopment Authority, construction of the international-standard Dakshineswar Skywalk, and the planning for a skywalk in Kalighat.

Modi has done a scam of Rs 3,000 crore in the name of cleaning the Ganga – Namami Gange is the name.

Yesterday, the Pakistan prime minister said Pakistan prefers Modi. And Pakistan is our enemy. The Pakistan prime minister, the ISI, Nirav Modi, Mehul Choksi – our enemies – all want Modi.

The BJP has sent greetings not even once on the occasion of Durga Puja, the biggest festival in the lives of Bengalis.

We give ‘imam bhata’ (stipend for imams) and ‘moazzem bhata’ (stipend for moazzems) taking from the Waqf board, as per the directions of the Supreme Court, and not from the tax you pay us.

Your money we spend on the various development schemes that have brought so much change on your lives.

Last year, our government had decided to give Rs 10,000 each to 28,000 Durga Puja committees in the State. Instead of supporting this decision, the BJP, CPI(M) and Congress went to court the next day, calling the move Hindu appeasement. This is the kind of care and concern they have for the people of the State.

By calling themselves Ram bhakts, the BJP people are actually insulting Ram. The real Ram did a lot of sacrifice, including spending 14 years in exile.

You be happy with your Ram, but we have our Durga, with whom stands the people of the entire country, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. You are on your way to being chased away by our Durga.

The BJP will realise May 23 what the Trinamool is really capable of.

Vote for Trinamool Congress, vote for Arpita Ghosh, and you will see a lot more development here in the coming days. Defeat every other party.

Netaji had once said – give me blood and I will give you freedom; now Mamata Banerjee has given the call for Bangla – give me 42 out of 42 Lok Sabha seats, and I’ll give you a progressive and secular government at the Centre

Jai Hind. Namaskar.