West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari took aim at the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on Monday with pointed comments that he asked people to stand by PM Narendra Modi and not let dimagi naxal and tukde tukde elements grow in the state.

The comments come just one day after Adhikari compared the influence of the CJP to pests and coronavirus. West Bengal’s previous Trinamool Congress (TMC) government was also targeted as Adhikari claimed they pursued an appeasement policy, ignored nationalist policies and tried to turn Bengal into "Greater Bangladesh".

"Don’t Let Cockroaches Breed"

Adhikari said in Ramnagar on Sunday that negative political influence should be compared to cockroaches and bed bugs. To boost nationalist sentiment among students, he said annual speech, quiz and debate competitions should be held in educational institutions, news agency PTI reported.

If the groups had not tried to spread like coronavirus, then steps such as Hit insect repellant wouldn’t have been necessary. The Left parties and 15-year rule of the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC were also targeted by Adhikari who claimed both had tried to wipe out Bengals culture.

His comments further increased the heated debate around nationalist, education and culture in the state.

Previous TMC government tried to stop students joining NCC

Adhikari claimed the previous TMC government tried to stop students from joining the National Cadet Corps (NCC) in educational institutions. Instead, he said they introduced a Jai Hind Vahini.

This could have helped students with opportunities to join the armed forces under the Agniveer Scheme. The Chief Minister also criticised the decision to include people who opposed Tata Motors’ Singur Project in history books.

He said this was giving recognition to those who forced the company out of the state. Adhikari said there would be changes to the syllabus from next academic year and the National Education Policy will be rolled out in West Bengal.

Comments come after meeting family of stampede victim

The comments were made after Adhikari visited the family of someone who died in the stampede at Chorbagan Durga Puja pandal in Kolkata on October 17.

By connecting education, culture and nationalism to the political history of the state, Adhikari has increased his attack on the TMC and asked people to support Modi.

His comments are likely to increase the debate in West Bengal about education, culture and nationalism.