KOLKATA: Ahead of others, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Friday released her Assembly election manifesto claiming to have fulfilled 80 per cent of her earlier pledges and assuring a “new Bengal for the next generation and minorities with special stress on agriculture and industry”.
Mamata said, “We completed 80 per cent of work promised during 2011 polls and the rest will be completed by this month-end. We have several new development plans for progress, communal harmony and unity. Even with a huge financial burden, we took Bengal to the pinnacle of growth and development.
“We work more and pledge less. We don’t indulge in cheap politics to gain votes. We want to forge ahead for the next generation and minorities and improve rural and urban standard of living. We achieved thousand times more than what we had pledged, with several new schemes for girls, youth and students,” she claimed.
The 146-page manifesto entitled People will have their say, It’s Mamata all the way! has a 12-page foreword written by Mamata with a four-para poem beginning: “A new day has dawned upon us, Tyranny is now a thing of the past. Trinamool has united Ram and Rahim, All races, creed and caste.”
However, she admitted that her government, despite enacting a legislation, could not return acquired land to the farmers of Singur in Hooghly district where the Tatas wanted to set up their Nano small car project. “A court case is going on and it’s sub judice. Let the car factory by Tatas be built on 600 acres and 400 acres be returned. I am optimistic of the outcome of the case and promise to return farmlands there. We are helping the farmers with subsidy and free ration,” she assured.
While releasing the manifesto, Mamata said, “I dedicate this on the feet of ‘Ma, maati, manush’ (mother, soil and masses) and seek their blessings. For four years, constant canards and false propaganda was spread by some political parties and individuals. .
“What we achieved in the socio-economic sector with several projects free of cost is incomparable. We will implement more such schemes in the next few years,” she pledged.