Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday used her reply to the finance bill debate in the Lok Sabha to mount sharp political attacks on the Trinamool Congress, DMK and the Congress, appearing to eye the forthcoming Assembly elections in Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

Switching briefly to Bengali, Sitharaman targeted the ruling Trinamool in Bengal, accusing it of neglecting tea garden workers. Quoting figures, she alleged that “3.79 lakh tea garden workers” had been denied benefits, repeating in Bengali that injustice had been done to them, triggering protests from Opposition benches.

“3.79 lakh cha shramiker sange anyay koreche TMC, anyay koreche TMC,” she told the House, amid uproar from the Opposition benches.

The minister seized upon remarks by senior Trinamool MP Saugata Roy on “distributive justice”, turning the argument against the party. She questioned why the Trinamool government was “acting in vengeance” and failing to support the “poorest of the poor”.

Citing the Centre’s welfare initiatives, Sitharaman referred to the Pradhan Mantri Tea Garden Workers’ Scheme launched in 2021-22, claiming that while neighbouring Assam had implemented it — benefiting over seven lakh workers — Bengal had not. She reiterated that lakhs of tea workers in the state were being deprived of the benefits, again repeating her charge in Bengali in an apparent outreach to voters.

“3.79 lakh tea garden workers have been denied benefits and distributive justice is concerning them… Because of political vengeance, you are hitting at the poorest of the poor and you come here and give lessons on distributive justice... What’s this?” she said.

The finance minister also accused the Trinamool of extending welfare selectively to party cadres. She criticised governance in the state, alleging that industrial growth had been stifled since the Left Front era and had not improved under the Trinamool, while also attacking the alleged prevalence of “syndicates”.

“Communists broke the spine of Bengal. They strangled businesses. The Trinamool came to power, and the spine that was broken stayed broken. They didn’t help the industries to come to Bengal. On the other hand, the syndicates which are operating in Bengal, they even made it difficult to buy cement to build rooms, and they are giving lectures to us on distributive justice,” she said.

Turning to Tamil Nadu, Sitharaman targeted the ruling DMK and chief minister M.K. Stalin, accusing the party of being “anti-women”. Speaking briefly in Tamil, she criticised the DMK’s opposition to the Centre’s production-linked incentive scheme and alleged that the state leadership had opposed the women’s reservation measure.

She also took on the Congress, defending the NDA government’s fiscal management record. Comparing the handling of the 2008 global financial crisis with the Covid-19 pandemic, Sitharaman said the previous UPA government had faltered during a relatively limited crisis, whereas the current government had maintained stability during a global upheaval. She added that the fiscal deficit, which had risen to 9.3 per cent during the pandemic, had since been brought under control.