PURULIA: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused her of ruining Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said Trinamool Congress had ushered in a new era of development in the state which was languishing during the previous Left regime.
She also charged the Modi government of not doing enough for the state.
"Neither the 34-year-old Left regime nor the two-year-old BJP government at the Centre did anything for the development of Bengal," Banerjee said at an election meeting at Jaipur in Purulia district.
"We have changed the picture of Bengal and have placed Bengal on the global map," Banerjee said.
"During the Left Front rule, people were in panic in the entire Jangalmahal (Maoist affected area) which had witnessed daily killings and bloodshed. Those days are gone and peace has returned. There has not been a single killing in Jangalmahal since 2011," she said.
Training guns at the central government, she said, "The centre is talking big. They have stopped funds for various programmes like ICDS. The state government is running those programmes."
Commenting on the Congress-left electoral pact, Banerjee said, "They are shameless. The Congress has forgotten how 55,000 Congress workers were killed in Bengal during the Left Front rule."
She reminded people that it was during the TMC rule that the scheme of providing rice at Rs 2/kg to poor families was started in the state.
The Prime Minister had yesterday said, "The 34-year-long Left regime had destroyed Bengal and the TMC in the last five years had broken the aspirations of the masses and their dreams. They (TMC) have ruined Bengal."
"No industry was coming up in Bengal and the only one flourishing was the bomb making industry," he added.