Trinamool Congress (TMC) general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday hit out at the Opposition BJP for criticising the state Budget, presented in the Assembly a day ago.
“The same people who once said they would scrap ‘Lakshmir Bhandar’ are now making promises to increase the amount. This is the victory of the ‘Maa-Mati-Manush’ ideology,” Abhishek said, referring to the BJP announcing to increase the monthly stipend under the scheme to Rs 3,000 after the 2026 Assembly elections in the state.
After the state government kept the allocation for Lakshmir Bhandar same in next financial year’s Budget, the BJP accused the TMC of failing to address the economic uplift of the women of poor households.
Hitting out at the state BJP chief and Union minister Sukanta Majumdar, Abhishek said: “They (BJP) have faced setbacks due to their caste and communal-based politics. Sukanta Majumdar should introspect. Had he received 5,000 fewer votes this time, he would have lost his seat. Next time, he will not be able to retain his seat (Balurghat). He should explain what he has done for Bengal in the past nine months since the NDA government made him a minister,” the TMC MP added.
He called the Union Budget, presented by Nirmala Sitharaman on February 28, “anti-Bengal” and alleged that the Centre was deliberately depriving the state.
“Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget is designed to stall Bengal’s progress. Bihar has been showered with allocations, while Bengal has been sidelined. It’s a classic case of political discrimination. They offer ‘laddoos’ if you vote for them and neglect you if you don’t,” he said, adding the Union Budget was nothing but deception.
“The BJP has 12 MPs here, the same as in Bihar. They allocated crores of rupees to Bihar. We have no objection; other states should receive funds. But why not Bengal? Is it because we did not vote for them or because we did not compromise our principles or sell our spine?” he said.
Criticising the Centre’s income tax relief measures, Abhishek said, “They talk about tax relief up to Rs 12 lakh, but GST is imposed on almost everything except water. Whatever they give with one hand, they take away with the other.”
On Wednesday after the presentation of the state Budget, TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had drawn comparisons between her government’s social welfare schemes with that of the BJP-led government at the Centre, saying “while we deliver, the Union Budget only makes promises”.
“On one hand, there is the Central budget. They promise only ahead of elections. Their budgets are based on elections. We don’t do that in our budget. Ours is based on what we say.”
“The Central Budget contains only promises… We allocate funds from our own revenue, and what we say in our budget, we deliver,” she asserted. “Our vision is very clear; it is to create more and more development,” she added.