Areas including Jalpaiguri, Mainaguri , Dhupaguri were devastated after the storm on Sunday afternoon and several hutments and houses were damaged. Opposition leaders, who visited the disaster-hit district, questioned authorities, “Why so many kutcha houses?” in the area and claimed that due to the corrupt practices of the ruling-TMC in the state, the PM Awas Yojana money could not reach the beneficiaries and hence, the houses were wiped away in the storm.
The TMC accused the BJP leaders of politicising the Jalpaiguri tragedy. Taking to their social media handle on X, the All India Trinamool Congress wrote, “While Mamata Banerjee rushed to Jalpaiguri last night to facilitate relief work… insensitive BJP leaders such as Dilip Ghosh BJP are politicising a natural calamity to stay in the news BJP prefers vulture politics over humanity. And this is why we call them Bangla-Birodhi. The upcoming polls are a battle between the good & evil. Bengal, choose wisely.”
“Had BJP-led Central government released funds for Awas Yojana to Bengal, the common people of this area, women and children, would not have been hurt or injured severely. The BJP-led Centre is responsible for this,” TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee said.
Adhikari who visited the local hospital on Monday afternoon, mentioned that Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke with CM Banerjee on Monday assuring help, while PM Modi on Sunday night, directed BJP workers to stand by people. Lashing out at the CM, the BJP leader said, “Why so many kutcha houses? It is due to corrupt practices of TMC that Awas Yojana money couldn’t reach beneficiaries and hence houses were wiped away in storm.” “She (Mamata) has a chartered flight, so she left at night,” he added.
Meanwhile, a chaos took place outside the Jalpaiguri hospital during Adhikari’s visit as locals were barred from entering the premises due to security protocols and the OPD was shut. Locals were thus seen protesting against Adhikari.
Taking a jibe at the hospital chaos, Abhishek mentioned that CM Banerjee visited the hospital at night as she did not want to hamper the functioning of the hospital in the morning. “There are various protocols, visiting going the hospital in the morning could have caused problems… So the CM came at night” he said.
“@SuvenduWB has mastered the Jomidari taught to him by his masters in Delhi & allowed the closure of OPD in a disaster-hit region for his photo-op… people at the spot immediately rejected BJP’s ‘DISASTER TOURISM’…Now, Bangla-Birodhi @BJP4India is willing to sacrifice the lives of the people for their vulture politics! This bloodlust against Bengal must stop!,” TMC posted on X.
Meanwhile, countering Suvendu’s claim that the CM visited the area to click pictures, Abhishek attacked the PM, stating who has stopped him from visiting Jalpaiguri. Targeting BJP state president, Abhishek asked, “Where is Sukanta Majumdar? He lives nearby, isn’t it time for him to visit the affected people?… BJP won seats here in 2019 LSpolls. But none of them were seen last night?