West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said her party never makes false promises during elections – a pointed dig at the BJP, which recently announced in its manifesto that a BJP government would give Rs 3,000 per month to women of Bengal under a scheme called Annapurna Bhandar, widely seen as a counter to Banerjee’s Lakshmir Bhandar scheme.
Addressing a rally at Suri, Banerjee said, “In the last election, I said I will give Lakshmir Bhandar. I started with Rs 500. Because we never give false promises for votes. In Bihar, before the polls, they gave Rs 8,000 and took it back later. I can show videos. They say they will give Rs 3,000. Have they ever given even Rs 1,000?”
She also warned voters against accepting money from the BJP. “Don’t take money from the BJP at all. Never make that mistake. My job is to warn you. First, you will open an account, and they will deposit money. Then you will see that black money has been given. Then ED-CBI will file a case,” she alleged.
On the question of jobs, the Trinamool Congress chief said, “Will the BJP give jobs? They have taken away railway gangmen posts. Army vacancies remain unfilled. And still they talk about recruitment. Ask Modi babu – what happened to the two crore jobs? It has been 12 years. Where have those jobs gone? And whenever we move to fill vacancies, they file cases in court to block them. Now they are talking about jobs – don’t play these tricks with the people of Bengal.” She ended with a rallying call to supporters: “On election day, if I am a warrior, will you be my comrade?”
Banerjee also responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s claim – made at Suri earlier – that he was the candidate across all 294 seats in West Bengal, a formulation Banerjee herself has traditionally used. “Modiji says he is the candidate for 294 seats. Fine – then leave the post of Prime Minister. Tell people you will be the Chief Minister of Bengal. Confirm it: will you be Prime Minister of the country or Chief Minister of Bengal? You are an outsider in Bengal. Tackle Delhi first. After that, think about Bengal,” she said.
The Chief Minister also attacked the BJP over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), alleging that the party was attempting to come to power by splitting votes and deleting names of Bengal’s residents from voter lists. She also hit out at the BJP over what she called divisive religious politics. “Their religion means a poison tree – pouring poison on people’s heads is their religion. My religion is humanity,” she said.
Banerjee further turned the BJP’s chargesheet against the party itself, alleging corruption in the coal sector and at Haldia port. “Are you giving a chargesheet against Trinamool? How much money do your leaders make from coal? How much goes to Delhi? I won’t say more for the sake of courtesy. A hint is enough,” she said.
On the voter list deletions, Banerjee alleged that 60 lakh names had been removed and said her efforts had secured the reinstatement of 32 lakh voters. She said she would continue to work for those whose names remained deleted.