KOLKATA:  Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday came down heavily on the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal for not allowing the chant of “Jai Shree Ram” as slogans.

Shah said that “Mamata Didi” gets angry if someone chants “Jai Shree Ram” in Bengal as a political slogan. He also said that Banerjee treats people like criminals if they use the Jai Shree Ram-chant.

“Is it an insult to her? When so many people take pride in it, the Bengal CM feels insulted. It’s because she wants to appease a particular community to maintain her vote bank politics.

“I want to ask her that do the people from other communities not vote for her in the state?

“If slogans of Jai Shri Ram are not raised in India, then will they be raised in Pakistan?” he said at a rally in Cooch Bihar district while kick-starting “Parivartan Yatra”.

Shah will also visit Thakurnagar in North 24-Parganas Bongaon to address a rally there in the evening. He had arrived in Guwahati on Wednesday night and on Thursday met Ananta Roy, the chief of Greater Coochbehar Peoples’ Association (GCPA), in Assam’s Chirang district.

He said Banerjee is only focused at making her nephew Abhishek Banerjee the next chief minister of West Bengal.

“Had Dilip Ghosh not been there, she would have announced it long back. But she is scared now. I would urge people to choose Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development drive this time and reject Mamata’s destructive politics.

“She constantly fights with the Centre. I want to ask you will it help bring developments in Bengal?” the Union Minister said.

Shah said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Parivartan Yatra is targeted to eradicate corrupt Trinamool government in West Bengal. “This campaign is for building ‘Sonar Bangla’ (referring to the golden days of Bengal from history). We want to give you that in next five years,” he added.