High voter turnout proof change of guard imminent in Bengal: Nadda

Nadda also lauded the Election Commission for conducting "peaceful elections" in spite of "TMC goons" at play. 

"''Khela shesh hoye gyache'' (the game is over). The high polling percentage shows that people are yearning for change. (Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee is worried as the elections were peaceful and the TMC goons could not have a field day," he said, addressing a poll rally here. 

The first phase of assembly polls on March 27 recorded 84.63 per cent voting. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has predicted that the BJP will win 26 of the 30 seats that went to the polls in the first phase. 

On Banerjee leaving her Bhowanipore seat in Kolkata to fight her former lieutenant and BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram, Nadda said, "If the CM goes to fight her own (former) minister, then who is the greater leader?" 

Asserting that Banerjee will lose the electoral battle in Nandigram, which is going to the polls in the second phase on Thursday, he said that Adhikari has accepted the challenge thrown at him by the TMC supremo. 

"People of Nandigram will give the clear message that TMC will be vanquished from West Bengal," he said. 

Mocking Banerjee's poll plank of ''Ma, Mati, Manush'' (mother, land and people), the BJP chief said that the recent death of 82-year-old Sova Majumdar speaks of the sorry state of affairs in the state. 

Holding that Banerjee has been claiming to be West Bengal's daughter and sister, he said, "What kind of daughter is she when a mother has to give her life to save her son?" 

"The death of Majumdar, who was injured when her son was being roughed up, shows the condition of mothers in the state," he said. 

The BJP had on Monday claimed that the octogenarian, a party worker's mother, succumbed to her injuries suffered during an attack by Trinamool Congress supporters in Nimta area of North 24 Parganas district last month. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier said that Majumdar was attacked because of her ideology and while the TMC showed no remorse, other opposition parties'' silence on the issue has proved their "anti-women mindset". 

The TMC has dubbed the allegations as baseless. 

Claiming that ''Mati'' (land) and ''Manush'' (people) are also equally unsafe in West Bengal, Nadda alleged that the TMC supremo has instead helped flourish ''tolabaji'' (extortion), syndicate-raj and other kinds of corruption. 

The BJP chief claimed that under the TMC dispensation, West Bengal holds the unsavoury reputation of topping the list among states in kidnapping of women, acid attack, attempt to murder and missing cases. 

Accusing Banerjee of indulging in appeasement politics, the BJP chief said that while he has no problem with the state government allowing Muharram processions during lockdown restrictions last year, he questioned why "curfew was imposed in West Bengal" on the day the prime minister laid the foundation for the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. 

He alleged that while the TMC had put restrictions on Durga Puja and Saraswati Puja celebrations in the state, ruling party workers have organised pujas of the goddess of learning this year. 

"Now Mamata Banerjee is also doing Chandi Path (reciting Chandi hymns). Why did she not do it earlier? She is doing it now because the BJP is coming to power and her rule is coming to an end," he said. 

Claiming that 39 out of 60 jute mills in Hooghly district were shut, he said that this betrays the condition of industries in the state. 

Holding that Banerjee's promise to reopen tyre-maker Dunlop Industries has failed miserably, he said that thousands of workers are jobless in the jute sector in the district alone. 

The BJP chief later conducted a roadshow in Pursurah assembly constituency.