This Is Why Amit Shah Said That Mamata Banerjee Government Can Collapse By 2025

Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s combative speech in Bengal’s Birbhum district Friday (April 14) and his remark that the Mamata Banerjee government can collapse by 2025 has triggered a lot of speculation as well as howls of protests from Trinamool functionaries. 

The Trinamool Congress interpreted it as an indication that the BJP would try to topple the state government through “unconstitutional means”. Trinamool’s chief spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, and a host of party leaders, expressed outrage over the BJP’s alleged gameplan. 

But that is clearly not what Amit Shah meant. The BJP, said top leaders of the party, has no intention of toppling the Mamata Banerjee government by “questionable means”. 

What Amit Shah said was that once the NDA under Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns to power in 2024, “the Mamata Banerjee government will collapse by 2025”. 

BJP leaders said that the Union Home Minister did not mean that the Mamata Banerjee government would be toppled. 

“The BJP does not believe in such tactics. Had it wanted to, the Union Government could have imposed President’s Rule in the state a long time ago since such conditions exist. Bengal has seen a total breakdown of law and order and Mamata Banerjee is incapable of running the government as per the Constitution,” leader of opposition Suvendu Adhiakri, who was seated next to Amit Shah at the dais Friday, told Swarajya. 

Top BJP leaders said what Amit Shah meant was that the gloves will be off when the BJP returns to power next year. 

“Ongoing probes by the CBI, ED and other central agencies into various mega scams that have surfaced in Bengal have reached a critical stage and will ensnare the top leadership of the Trinamool. Once more top leaders of the Trinamool are put behind bars, the party will plunge into crisis and that will trigger the collapse of the Mamata Banerjee government,” explained Adhikari. 

BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar told Swarajya that the noose is tightening around the neck of the Trinamool’s top leadership. 

“Mamata Banerjee knows this very well and that’s why she is getting desperate. That’s why her attacks on our party and the Prime Minister have intensified. She is hoping that by portraying herself as the strongest critic of the BJP and Modiji, she will be able to rally the entire opposition behind her and defeat the BJP and thus save herself and her family from prosecution. But that’s just a pipedream,” he said. 

Senior CBI and ED officers confirmed to Swarajya that the investigations into the cattle smuggling, coal theft, chit fund and cash-for-jobs scams have reached a crucial stage. The involvement of some top leaders of the Trinamool in these scams is slowly coming out in the open.

“Interrogations of many of the accused are slowly throwing up links to some very senior politicians of the state and they are perhaps the biggest beneficiaries of these scams” said a senior CBI officer. 

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari claimed that a thorough probe by central investigation agencies will reveal the “monumental corruption of Mamata Banerjee’s immediate family members, including her nephew (Abhishek Banerjee) and her brothers and their families.”. 

“What Amit Shahji meant was that it is imperative for the BJP under Narendra Modiji to return to power in order to ensure that the ongoing probes reach their logical conclusion and are not derailed,” explained Adhikari. 

“He (Amit Shah) cautioned the people of Bengal against supporting the Trinamool in the next election. His argument was that if the BJP returns to power with a stronger mandate, it will strengthen the hands of Narendra Modiji and hasten the prosecution of corrupt Trinamool leaders, including Mamata Banerjee’s family,” Adhikari added. 

BJP leaders said that one of the prominent campaign issues for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls will be corruption and how corrupt parties are trying to join forces to unseat the BJP from power in order to derail ongoing corruption probes against them. 

“It thus follows that once the BJP returns to power, there will be a no-holds barred crusade against corruption and the corrupt, no matter who they are, will be put behind bars. That is why Mamata Banerjee and her party colleagues are so scared and are doing all that they can to stop the BJP’s return to power. But their game plan won’t work and ultimately they will be arrested,” said state BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar. 

“So far, only a couple of senior Trinamool leaders, and a number of other mid-ranking functionaries, have been arrested. But everyone knows that the actual beneficiaries of the scams are Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and her close relatives. Once they are arrested along with other top leaders of the party, the Trinamool will be thrown into complete disarray. And the government will then collapse,” said Suvendu Adikari. 

Amit Shah’s veiled warning from Birbhum Friday is thus bad news for the Trinamool and its top leadership. Shah has made it clear that after returning to power, the BJP will go all-out against corruption and the corrupt. 

And the logical outcome of the process (of a no-holds-barred crusade against corruption) will be the fall of governments headed by the corrupt.