abhishek-banerjee-dubs-bjp-anti-bengal

TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee calls the BJP leaders 'anti-Bengal', claiming the party only remembers the state during election time. The leader made the remarks while addressing the 'Jana Garjan’ (people’s roar) rally at Brigade Parade grounds in Kolkata. 

 

"Modi ki guarantee" has "zero warranty", asserted the TMC leader on Sunday, adding that people of the state will respond strongly to the saffron camp in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections for withholding the state's funds.

 

"The 'Modi ki guarantee' has zero warranty. Only Mamata Banerjee and the TMC keep the promises. The BJP and its leaders are outsiders and anti-Bengal and that is why they have withheld the funds due to the state," he said. 

 

The TMC MP, who was questioned multiple times by central agencies in connection with investigations into several corruption cases, also claimed that the ED and CBI raids "won't yield any result as they won't be participating in the elections". 

 

"They (BJP) may have money, central agencies, a section of the judiciary. But TMC has the support of people on its side," he added. Banerjee was apparently referring to former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay who recently resigned and joined the BJP. 

 

He asked, "Those who are not familiar with the ethos and values espoused by Rabindranath Tagore and Swami Vivekananda, aren’t they anti-Bengal? Those who block funds due to Bengal and malign the state, aren’t they anti-Bengal?” Continuing the “Aren’t they anti-Bengal” refrain in the speech, Banerjee wondered how those who vandalised the statue of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar could be described. 

 

The nephew of Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee was referring to the razing down of the statue of the 19th-century social reformer and polymath in a college campus in Kolkata before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Both TMC and the BJP charged each other with being involved with the incident. 

 

Accusing BJP of practising divisive politics, he said, "Those who call our Sikh brothers Khalistani, those who call our minority brothers Pakistani, are they not opposed to the ethos of Bengal, the hallmark of which is inclusiveness.” Banerjee was referring to a controversy in which the leader of the opposition Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP was accused of calling a Sikh IPS officer on duty “a Khalistani”. It drew sharp criticism from the Sikh community but the BJP leader having said that. 

 

He said, "Funds of 59 lakh people were withheld (by the Centre) even after they worked under the 100-day scheme. The Mamata Banerjee government cleared their dues. This rally is for those 11.36 lakh families who have not received houses because of the BJP's decision to block funds. This rally will ensure the visarjan (immersion) of BJP." Labelling BJP leaders from Delhi as “outsiders”, Banerjee claimed that they act like zamindars who, out of the total 28 states and union territories, stopped funds of West Bengal only. 

 

"Those who don't understand our language, how can they read our hearts? Those who cannot speak, write, or read Bengali, and label a Bengali speaking bonafide resident of India as Bangladeshi, will Bengal take guarantee from them?" he said. 

 

Referring to the visits of Modi in the state since March 1, Banerjee said, "The PM said at his public rallies that he has given Rs 42,000 crore to Bengal in the past three years. I am telling you about a letter sent by the state government on December 14, 2022, which took up the issue of the non-release of central funds under MGNREGA and Awas Yojana in the past two years. 

 

"If the Modi government can prove that they have given even one paisa in the past three years under Awas Yojana, I will leave politics. Whenever he comes to the state next time, he must publish a white paper on how much money he had given to Bengal over the past 3 years," Banerjee said.

 

Claiming that the BJP-led Centre delinked Aadhaar cards and took Rs 1000 for Aadhaar-Pan linkage, he said the Mamata Banerjee government is giving people Rs 1000 per month to the women of the state under a scheme.