Union minister Amit Shah on Wednesday launched an all-out attack on Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress-led West Bengal government saying that people of the state have decided that their time has come to an end. 

Addressing a mega rally in Kolkata, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader referred to the suspension of Suvendu Adhikari from Bengal assembly and said, ” You can expel Suvendu from Assembly but can’t silence the people of Bengal, they say your time has come to an end.” 

He also targeted the Bengal goverment saying the “TMC syndicate” does not let the money disbursed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be used for the state. 

“I want to thank the people of Bengal who, by giving us 18 Lok Sabha and 77 Assembly seats, have decided that the next government here will be of the BJP,” he said. 

The Wednesday rally will be laying the groundwork for the saffron party’s upcoming campaign in West Bengal for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “From today, the conch has been blown for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections” BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar said ahead of the rally on Wednesday. 

On Tuesday, he echoed the sentiments expressed during a rally by Shah in April where he set a target of winning more than 35 seats from the state. The BJP had won 18, out of the 42 constituencies, in West Bengal during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. 

Ahead of Shah’s rally, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee on Wednesday said, “West Bengal is not anyone’s property, the State belongs to everyone…These (TMC) people have started shouting even before the show was started. They are scared….”

The Trinamool Congress had, however, downplayed the significance of Shah’s April rally saying that it would “not yield positive results” for the saffron party.

“The BJP launched a mega campaign during the 2021 assembly polls, but it did not yield any results. This time too, it won’t have any impact,” TMC leader Kunal Ghosh said.