Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday accused the TMC of making false claims that the BJP will stop consuming meat and fish if it wins the Assembly elections in West Bengal.
Addressing an election rally in support of BJP candidates here in North Bengal, Sarma asserted that one can eat as much non-vegetarian food as one wants in the saffron party-ruled Assam.
He said the only restriction in Assam is consumption of beef.
“You can go to Dhubri or Goalpara and eat as much fish and meat as you want, there are no restrictions,” Sarma said.
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“(CM) Mamata Banerjee is worried that once the BJP government is formed in West Bengal, the beef trade will stop here,” he claimed.
The Assam Chief Minister also claimed that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) wants cattle smuggling to continue into Bangladesh “so that they can line their pockets”.
Central investigating agencies, including the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate, are probing the alleged cattle smuggling from West Bengal to Bangladesh.
Sarma said West Bengal needs a government capable of providing proper “treatment” to Bengali migrants who entered the state illegally.
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“We have to make the BJP victorious in West Bengal in these elections to ensure that,” he said.
Sarma said the BJP government in Assam has ensured that Bangladeshi Muslims do not illegally occupy lands in the northeastern state.
He added: “We expelled them from the illegally occupied territories.”
Pointing out that Assam government employees get 50 per cent dearness allowance, Sarma also said that despite West Bengal being a much larger state, government employees here get “only 22 per cent dearness allowance”.
Elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly are scheduled to be held in two phases – on April 23 and April 29. The votes will be counted on May 4.
