Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], November 2 : After leading the BJP's 'Loktantra Bachao, Arajakta Hatao' march in Kolkata on Monday, BJP national president Nitin Nabin took a swipe at former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying there was no point in lamenting the electoral outcome and asserting that the people of the state had voted for change.
"There is no use in crying anymore," Nabin told ANI, referring to the Trinamool Congress's (TMC) electoral defeat.
He further said that West Bengal was echoing with nationalist slogans under the leadership of Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari.
"Vande Mataram! Jai Shri Ram! Under the leadership of Suvendu Adhikari, West Bengal is echoing with 'Vande Mataram' and 'Jai Shri Ram'," Nabin stated.
Addressing the rally, Nabin claimed that the people of Kolkata had rejected what he described as anarchy and voted for political change.
"Here, in Kolkata, I saw that people of Kolkata had wiped out anarchy on 4th May itself. Mamata didi was ousted and West Bengal 'BJPmay'. I saw no sign of anarchy today. But a few elements are still alive. They were at Ramlila Maidan yesterday. They were expressing despair of their loss. But people of the country will respond to them, just like the people of West Bengal responded to them," Nabin said at the rally.
Nabin said leaders of the bloc who had been defeated in their home states had gathered in Delhi, and referred to the recent electoral outcomes in West Bengal, Delhi and Bihar.
"People of INDI bloc, who were defeated in their respective states, had gathered in Delhi to cry. The manner in which TMC was wiped out in Bengal, Congress and AAP were wiped out in Delhi. In Bihar too, RJD was completely wiped out," he said.
He added that the people of West Bengal had given themselves freedom from both Mamata Banerjee and Rahul Gandhi. "People of Bengal have given freedom from Mamata didi as well as from Rahul Gandhi in Delhi," he said.
Earlier on Sunday, former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that people in Bengal are "victims" of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and vowed to continue the fight against the exercise, asserting that she would not surrender.
Addressing the INDIA bloc’s mega rally at Ramlila Maidan in the national capital, Banerjee accused the BJP of looting West Bengal and said the fight to protect democracy would continue through political and democratic means.
“Bengal is the victim of the circumstances of this SIR. We will not give up. We will give our lives, we will fight, but we will not surrender. They looted our Bengal. We will save democracy and bring it back. We will take revenge through politics. We will take revenge through democracy. We will fight,” she said.
Nabin, along with West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and state BJP chief Samik Bhattacharya, took part in a rally launched by the BJP and a counter-march in response to opposition protests against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The march witnessed large participation of BJP workers and supporters, with national flags prominently displayed throughout the procession.
The BJP's march comes a day after Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, while addressing a mega rally organised by the INDIA bloc at Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi, said that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar would be removed from his post and jailed, while accusing him of facilitating alleged vote theft in the country.