Modi says people want Gujarat-like development in Bengal

Ahmedabad: Indicating that Bharatiya Janata Party is eyeing to conquer West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that the people in the eastern state are wishing for Gujarat-like development.

Modi recalled that ever since the 2014 elections, the story of Gujarat's development initiatives had reached all corners of the country even before he reached various places for campaigning.

"I watched a social media interview of an elderly woman in West Bengal where she kept on repeating Modi-Modi. But when asked who she will vote for, she said she will vote for the communists.

"When she was asked why, since she wanted Gujarat like development, she said this is Bengal, we can't say all this publicly, you never know what happens to you," Modi said during his first speech in Gujarat after the 2019 landslide victory in the Lok Sabha battle.

The BJP, dramatically, improved its Lok Sabha tally in the state from two seats in the 2014 elections to 18 seats this time from the total 42 seats.

Modi, who arrived here along with BJP President Amit Shah, was speaking at a thanks-giving public function near the old BJP headquarters in Ahmedabad's Khanpur area.

While concluding his speech, he asked the people to raise the slogan "Bharat mata ki jai" and asked them to be louder, saying, "I and Amitbhai have to work there, our voice has to reach Bengal."

Similarly, the party chief Amit Shah also asked people to raise the slogan. 

"Arey bhai, you sound too low after such a huge victory! Raise the slogans loud enough so that it echoes in West Bengal."

The Assembly elections in West Bengal are scheduled in 2021.