Shah fires painting salvo over deposit scams

Shah speaks at Contai (left), a bus ransacked in the clash that broke out after his visit (right)

ANSHUMAN PHADIKAR, TT, 29 Jan 2019, Contai: BJP chief Amit Shah on Tuesday said Mamata Banerjee's paintings "were bought by the chit fund-walas for crores and crores of rupees", the allegation coinciding with a sudden pick-up in CBI probes into default scams that rocked Bengal in 2012 and 2013.

Speaking at a rally in Contai's Padmapukuria in East Midnapore, Shah linked the scams and prices that some of the paintings of the chief minister fetched.

"Mamata Didi is a very good painter I must say. While the paintings of renowned painters are sold at prices ranging from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50 lakh, her paintings were bought by the chit fund-walas at crores and crores of rupees. Can she catch the chit fund fraudsters and put them behind bars?" Shah asked.

Hours later, state minister and Trinamul women wing chief Chandrima Bhattacharya sent Shah a defamation notice over his remarks.

The question session brought back memories of the BJP's campaign pitch ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when then prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi would broach this issue in almost all rallies that he had addressed in Bengal. Modi had promised that if his party came to power, the government would complete the probe into the default scams, arrest the culprits and return the money to the gullible investors, who had invested into the schemes floated by companies like Saradha and Rose Valley.

While the promoters of some of the chit funds have been arrested, the investigation is far from over. In the recent months, the CBI has started collecting the paintings of Mamata from some businessmen, who had bought them. The process of returning money to the investors, however, hasn't started.

Again promising the same ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to a crowd of around 20,000, the BJP chief said: "Around 25 lakh people lost their hard earned money in these chit fund frauds in Bengal. But Didi cannot put them behind the bars and return investors their money, as the culprits were customers of her paintings. Only the BJP can return your money, if they come to power." With Mamata's paintings making a return to the BJP campaign narrative, political observers think that the saffron camp will target Mamata in the run up to the Lok Sabha polls. "They did the same thing in 2014 and also before the 2016 Assembly polls, but they couldn't reap any dividends," said an observer.

Other than targeting Mamata, the BJP chief also highlighted the problem of infiltration from Bangladesh as part of its attempt to justify the National Register for Citizens exercise in Assam that excluded 40 lakh people.

Assuring the crowd that the BJP government can only ensure that "no infiltrators" cross the Indo-Bangladesh border, Shah once again said, "Can Didi (Mamata) stop infiltrators from across the borders? No, they are her voters. Even for the Congress and the Communists, infiltrators were always the votebanks. It is only the BJP who can stop them from entering Bengal." Shah assured the Hindu refugees, who had taken shelter in Bengal, of permanent citizenship under the new Citizenship Amendment Bill. Then he again launched an assault on Mamata and said: "I would like to ask Mamata didi whether she will support the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Rajya Sabha or not. Trinamul welcomes infiltrators and Rohingyas but there is no place here for the refugees, who came to save themselves." He added that the 2019 Lok Sabha poll for Bengal is not to re-elect Modi as the Prime Minister but to change the Trinamul government in the state. "Counting after the Lok Sabha polls will begin at 9 am and by 2 pm when the results are out, Mamata Banerjee's government will be gone," the BJP chief asserted.

Jab at Priyanka Shah sought to link the2G scam during the Congress-led UPA regime to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

"In the 10 years of the UPA rule under Manmohan Singh, there were only two Gs, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Then, we had witnessed the 2G scam of Rs 12 lakh crore. Now, if the third G, Priyanka G, joins them, what will be the amount of the scam?" he asked.