On visit to Maoists den “Naxalbari”, Amit Shah says Bengal yearns for change

New Delhi: The BJP president Amit Shah, who today visited erstwhile Maoist den Naxalbari in West Bengal as part of party's extensive expansion plans, today said the saffron outfit is committed to bring back the glories of the days and principles of State's icons. "BJP is committed to bring back the glory of Bengal, the land of Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Subhash Babu, SP Mookerjee and other stalwarts," Mr Shah said in a series of tweets.

In his message in the micro blogging site, he further said, "Huge support for BJP in recent bypolls is an indication that Bengal is yearning for change from Trinamool Congress's misrule and politics of appeasement". Mr Shah today visited booth no 93 in Naxalbari along with state BJP leaders and interacted with party workers and local residents.

Earlier, he was received among others by Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Agriculture S S Ahluwalia. As part of extensive campaign strategy for the party, BJP president will travel across selected booths in Odisha, Telangana, Gujarat and Lakshwadweep besides Naxalbari in West Bengal. Naxalbari, a small village in northern part West Bengal under the jurisdiction of Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district, the name itself had aroused terror when CPI(ML) founder member Charu Majumder led peasant movement for landless people in the early 60s and since then members of CPI(M-L) were called Naxalites.

Mr Shah today launched party's much hyped Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Vistarak Yojana, a grassroots movement to strengthen the saffron party at booth levels. The economy and standard of living of people in this region have not changed much in the past four decades but a section of people here now believes that things will change for better under BJP.

In his messages, Mr Shah also said that during his three-day stay in the Naxalbari, he will "spread" the message of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pro-poor governance and Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikas theme. "Over the next three days, as a vistarak, I would be visiting several booths, interacting with our karyakartas and strengthening our party," Mr Shah tweeted. (UNI)