Kolkata, Jan 31 : Senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday described Amit Shah as the “most unsuccessful home minister” the country has seen, accusing him of failing to ensure internal security and shifting the blame onto political opponents.
Talking to reporters at the city airport, Banerjee said leaders like Shah are nothing but “tourists” who visit the state every month when polls are round the corner, make tall claims and false promises and then forget everything.
Asked about Shah’s comments holding the Mamata Banerjee government responsible for the deaths of so many people in the Anandapur fire tragedy, the TMC national general secretary shot back saying “BJP leaders like Shah are doing politics with bodies and acting as vultures.”
“Should Shah and (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi be held responsible for the deaths of so many people at a nightclub fire in BJP-ruled Goa? Whom should they blame for the water contamination in Madhya Pradesh? Who is responsible for the deaths of over 140 people due to Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state? Who is responsible for the deaths of people who stood in lines for hours after demonetisation?,” Banerjee said.
Describing Shah as the “most unsuccessful, fake home minister India has ever seen,” he said, “If he speaks about infiltration, he must bear responsibility as the BSF, which guards the frontiers, is under the home minister.”
Accusing Shah of practising “politics of division and politics of hatred”, Banerjee said, “None should do politics over an unfortunate incident.”
Asserting that the state government had taken all necessary steps following the fire incident, he rejected BJP allegations related to one of the owners of the food outlet accompanying the chief minister on a foreign tour.
“Just because he accompanied the CM, we must keep in mind that Mehul Choksi and Nirav Modi had accompanied Modi and other BJP bigwigs in visits abroad. Should Modi be held accountable for sharing photo with Choksi and Nirav Modi?,” he asked.
“We must cooperate with each other to prevent such tragedies. And you must keep in mind that if you are pointing figure at someone, you must understand there are three other fingers that may be directed to yourself,” he said.
Banerjee said BJP should fight the TMC on the plank of development, political issues and economic growth rather than spreading hatred,” rejecting Shah’s remark that the chief minister would have been more proactive had the victims belonged largely to the minority community.
Those were private godowns and the government cannot intrude into their inside space to conduct surveillance, he said.
About Shah’s attacks on TMC on the issue of corruption, Banerjee said, “Shah should hold a mirror to his own party”, questioning why corruption charges against certain leaders were dropped after they joined the BJP.
“Is the BJP a washing machine to remove stains of corruption? Why do central agencies stop investigations midway when leaders join the saffron party?” he asked.
Banerjee also rejected Shah’s claim about the presence of lakhs of Bangladeshi and Rohingya migrants in West Bengal, saying such allegations were not reflected in the draft electoral rolls published by the Election Commission.
He alleged that the BJP was attempting to disenfranchise over one crore genuine voters in the state by citing “logical discrepancies” as they had consistently voted against the party in recent elections.
Shah on Saturday mounted an all-out attack on the TMC government, accusing it of shielding infiltrators, institutionalising corruption and deliberately undermining border security for electoral gains.
Shah said the formation of a BJP government in the state was no longer just a political objective, but a “national security necessity”.
Addressing a massive BJP workers’ meeting at Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas, the home minister asserted that the 2026 assembly elections would mark the TMC’s ouster from power.
“The way infiltration is taking place in West Bengal, it has become a security issue for the entire country. Even after court orders, the TMC government is not giving land to the BSF for border fencing because infiltrators are its vote bank,” Shah alleged.
He claimed that the administration and police in the state were not stopping illegal migrants, who were being sent across the country using fake documents.
