Mamata & Abhishek train guns on BJP over GDP, job cuts and runaway prices
Times of India | 28 April 2024
Kolkata/Asansol: CM Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee took the poll battle to the opposition BJP camp while campaigning for two celebrity candidates, Shatrughan Sinha in Asansol and Satabdi Roy in Birbhum, respectively, on Saturday.
S S Ahluwalia is BJP’s Asansol candidate while former RSS pracharak Devtanu Bhattacharya is the party’s pick for Birbhum.Debasish Dhar, who was BJP’s “first-choice” candidate in Birbhum, had to make way for Bhattacharya after his nomination was cancelled.
Asansol’s BJP candidate somehow managed a ticket at the very last moment, said Mamata. “He is a Sikh but what did he do when a Sikh police officer was labelled a Khalistani by his own partymen? He didn’t even say a word in protest. He will not get any vote from Sikhs here,” she said in Kulti.
While asking people to vote for Sinha claiming that he deserved a Bharat Ratna and had always been neglected by Centre, Mamata blamed the BJP candidate for distributing money to buy votes. “The next time they give you money, settle for nothing less than Rs 15 lakh that PM Modi had promised before coming to office,” Mamata said.
Taking on BJP’s Dhar, Abhishek said at Dubrajpur in Birbhum: “What more can I say about those who cannot finalize a candidate. The candidate has been changed twice in 15 days. What a plight!”
Continuing his attack against Dhar, a former IPS officer, Abhishek called him a “garbage of the govt”. “Sin does not even spare the father. After getting the BJP ticket, he went to offer puja in Tarapith. The mother has done justice.”
The CM, rebutting the claims of PM Modi about “no development in Bengal”, revealed how the state had been ahead of the nation in GDP, agriculture, industry and employment generation. “In 10 years of BJP rule, India’s GDP stands at 8.8%, while Bengal’s GDP is 11%. If we talk about growth in the agriculture sector, India stands at 1.8% while Bengal stands at 2.8%. While there is a growth of 5.4% in industrialization in India, in Bengal it is 7.4% and unemployment rate stands at 8% in India while in Bengal it has come down to 5.6%,” Mamata said.
Blaming BJP for creating unemployment in Bengal, the CM cited how Centre had reduced production from Chittaranjan Locomotive Works in Asansol and the recent 26,000 school job cuts by a court order. “The PM is a liar and BJP is the biggest jumlabaaz party. They lie about development, welfare schemes, snatch people’s jobs, make Hindus fight against Muslims and create differences between people of different castes,” she added.
Abhishek mocked the BJP manifesto while talking about one nation, one election. “This vote could be the last vote of your life. After that, they might change the Constitution. Vote in such a way that the lotus looks like a mustard flower,” he said. “Didi is giving Rs 1,000 in ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’. Modi is taking that money in the name of linking Aadhaar and PAN. Mamata is giving jobs, Modi is taking them away.”
The TMC general secretary also attacked BJP over spiralling prices of cooking gas, diesel, petrol and kerosene.