Kolkata: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday appealed to the people of West Bengal to vote for the Congress and said that if Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had run a clean government and not polarised the state, then the BJP would not have got an opening there.

In a video statement issued on the eve of the first phase of the West Bengal polls, Gandhi stressed that the Congress takes on the BJP which knows that only the Congress can stop it.

"This is an election of ideologies. The first thing I want to tell you is that the BJP steals elections. The BJP has stolen elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The SIR (Special Intensive Revision) is a means to steal elections," the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha said.

The ideologies of the BJP and the Congress are fighting it out in the country, he said.

"In our 4000-km-long Bharat Jodo Yatra, we had given just one message --'nafrat ke bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukaan kholni hai," Gandhi said.

He further alleged that the BJP works against Bengali culture, history and language.

"BJP leaders say 'One Nation, One Language, One Religion'. In this country there are diverse languages, people, religions and ideologies. The Constitution states that India that is Bharat is a Union of states. We are protecting the Constitution and the BJP is attempting to finish off the Constitution," he alleged.

"If Mamata (Banerjee) ji had run a clean government, if (TMC's) Mamata ji had not polarised Bengal, then the BJP would not have gotten an opening," Gandhi said.