KOLKATA: After hitting out at Mamata Banerjee’s party describing it anti-women in the backdrop of Sandeshkhali unrest in his three previous rallies in Bengal this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday portrayed the TMC as anti-poor while addressing a gathering in north Bengal’s Siliguri as part of the party’s campaign ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. He also accused the Bengal’s ruling party of extorting money from the poor and forcing people to starve by siphoning off their benefits under the scheme of public distribution system.
“The government has announced Rs 100 cut in cooking cylinder price on the day of International Women’s Day. The BJP-led government also included more than one crore poor women across the country with the free cooking gas connection under the scheme titled Ujwala. But the TMC has taken a stand against it. In Bengal, more than 14 lakh applications under the scheme are pending with the state government,” said Modi.
In an attempt to blunt the TMC’s allegation accusing the Centre for not clearing the state’s dues under MGNREGA’s 100-day job scheme, the Prime Minister said, “We have sent the money for the poor. But the TMC is busy extorting from them. Bengal government here has distributed 25 lakh job cards solely to favour its cronies.”
The Centre has stopped the funds under the MGNREGA scheme citing anomalies. In December last year, chief minister Mamata Banerjee met the Prime Minister in Delhi over the state’s pending dues which the Bengal government claimed to be More than Rs 7,000 crore.
Modi reiterated south Bengal’s Sandeshkhali stir by the local women against alleged sexual abuse on them by TMC satraps to woo the women electorates in north Bengal. “The TMC is not bothered about your pain, trouble, your difficulties. The actions of TMC leaders in Sandeshkhali targeting poor, Dalits, tribals and sisters are being discussed nationwide Exploiting women and plundering the earnings of the poor are deeds of the TMC cronies,” he said.
The Prime Minister took a dig at the INDIA alliance saying the allies of the bloc are not concerned about the future of the country’s children. “TMC is concerned about the nephew, Congress wants to promote the sons and daughters of their royal families and the Left needs to maintain ties with both to keep their vehicle running,” he added.
Modi stressed on how the BJP-led Centre thinks of the people of north Bengal, the BJP’s citadel where it bagged seven out of eight seats in the 2019 general elections, when the TMC-led government deprived the region. “The BJP has a clear roadmap for the development of north Bengal. We are focused We are focused on promoting business related to tea, timber and tourism, the three pillars of the region’s economy, with the construction of essential facilities underway to support those factors,” he said.
Highlighting the success of the BJP during its 10-year tenure, the Prime Minister raised the issue of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and abrogation of Article 370 ending special status given to Jammy and Kashmir.