UCC, 'Ram Rajya': Shah sharpens BJP's Bengal poll pitch

Amit Shah unveiled the BJP's ambitious manifesto for West Bengal, promising a Uniform Civil Code, a local chief minister, and an end to appeasement politics if elected.

Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday turned the Bharatiya Janata Party's manifesto launch into a hard-edged ideological pitch, promising Uniform Civil Code in West Bengal within six months, a 'son of Bengal' as chief minister and 'Ram Rajya' in the state.

Launching the 'Sankalp Patra', he sought to blend the party's stance against infiltration and appeasement with a welfare push and an attempt to blunt the Trinamool Congress's attack that the Bharatiya Janata Party would interfere with Bengali food habits.

"There will be one law for every person in Bengal," Shah said at a press conference after unveiling the manifesto.

Uniform Civil Code and Equal Rights

Defending the UCC promise amid repeated attacks by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that such a code amounted to appeasement politics, the former BJP chief said the idea did not originate with his party.

"The recommendation for a Uniform Civil Code is not of the BJP. It is of the Constituent Assembly. It was due to appeasement politics that the UCC was not implemented for so long. In whichever states we have formed governments, we have implemented them; and we will do it in Bengal too."

Shah asked whether the UCC amounted to majoritarianism.

"The Constitution is based on the principle that every citizen, regardless of religion, should be treated equally. Is having the same law for every citizen appeasement? Or is it appeasement when one citizen is allowed four marriages and another only one? The UCC ends appeasement," he said.

A Chief Minister from Bengal

Shah also addressed a question that has long dogged the BJP in Bengal -- who would be its chief ministerial face.

"We are not a dynastic party where, after Didi, her nephew automatically becomes the leader," he said, in an oblique reference to Abhishek Banerjee.

"Any Bengali can become the chief minister. The BJP's chief minister in Bengal will be someone who belongs to Bengal. He will be capable, qualified and able to establish good governance."

Shah sought to undercut the TMC's repeated charge that the BJP was trying to run Bengal from Delhi.

"That will not happen. Bengal needs good governance. Bengal's chief minister will be someone born in Bengal, who speaks Bengali and is capable. If the state is run from Delhi, that is still better than being run from Bangladesh," he said.

The reference to Bangladesh dovetailed with the BJP's campaign around infiltration.

"Mamata Banerjee has a different definition of infiltrators. By infiltrators, I mean those who are not citizens of India. We will expel all such infiltrators and give citizenship to refugees. Infiltrators and refugees are two different things," Shah said.

Asked if the BJP would publish a white paper on infiltration, he said, "That will come once we form government (in West Bengal). We will tell you exactly how many infiltrators there are and how the current government created fake entries."

'Ram Rajya' and Good Governance

Shah also seized on TMC leader Akhil Giri's remark that Bengal did not need 'Ram Rajya'.

"Ram Rajya is a concept of good governance, one that Mahatma Gandhi himself spoke about during the freedom struggle," he said.

"If Mamata Didi does not want even that, she need not worry -- she has very little time left. From May 5, the BJP would be in power. We will establish Ram Rajya here, which means good governance."

Asked whether a BJP government would ban fish and eggs, Shah shot back: "Why do you ask such a question?"

Terming it a rumour spread by the TMC, he said, "Didi keeps making such claims. Now she is saying that all her welfare schemes will be stopped. Wherever the BJP has come to power, we have not stopped a single pro-poor scheme of the previous government. What will stop, however, is the cut money that goes into implementing these schemes."

Asked whether the BJP was now embracing the same 'freebies culture' it once criticised, Shah argued that Bengal had been pushed into distress by the Left and the TMC.

"When someone is sick, you give them medicine and strength. That is not called a freebie. These measures are meant to support Bengal's women, youth and men, and also fishermen," he said.

Projecting confidence despite the BJP's failure to dislodge the TMC in 2021, Shah said the party would cross the line this time.

"We are certain that this time the BJP will form a government with a full majority. I want to appeal to the people of Bengal not to be afraid of anyone. Fear will end only when there is change. Vote fearlessly in this election and initiate that change."

Referring to the violence in Malda and allegations that judicial officers had been confined or threatened, Shah said, "The Supreme Court has taken note of it, so has the EC. They have ensured that elections this time will be free of fear."

The Union home minister also dismissed a TMC video purportedly showing suspended leader Humayun Kabir claiming proximity to BJP leaders.

"You do not know Mamata Banerjee's capabilities. She can make 2,000 such videos. Humayun Kabir and the BJP are at opposite poles. We would rather sit in the opposition for 20 years than sit with those who talk about building a Babri Masjid in Bengal," he said.

Shah distanced himself from the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls. "This is a matter for the Election Commission and the Supreme Court. We are not carrying out the SIR. The Election Commission is doing it," he said.

Shah made one final promise pitched at two important communities in north and western Bengal.

"We will make efforts to include the Kurmali and Rajbanshi languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, and the Bengal government will work with the Centre for this," he said.