The Opposition Trinamul on Saturday hit out at the BJP government in Tripura for tweeting an advertisement “showing a Calcutta flyover as its own”.
The tweet, inviting participation in a road safety slogan writing competition, has a picture that appears to be that of the Sealdah flyover, with yellow taxis and blue-and-yellow private buses.
Trinamul state convener Subal Bhowmik said he had seen the tweet by “mygovTripura”, a “platform for interaction between citizen and government for the development and growth of Tripura” according to the bio, and alleged that such an occurrence was “nothing new” for BJP governments.
“I am happy they are using development in Calcutta as their own. Earlier too they had used the picture of a Calcutta flyover (Maa) in an Uttar Pradesh ad. Before that they had used a picture of a China airport to project it as an impression of how the Noida airport will look when it is built,” Bhowmik said.
“These incidents are nothing new. Both the Centre and the state governments have been doing this jumlabazi since they have nothing to show by way of development. This is the way the state government is functioning here.… People have been left behind under the BJP regime,” the Trinamul leader added.
Trinamul’s Tripura unit tweeted, tagging chief minister Biplab Deb: “@BJP4Tripura claiming that these are their roads? Are there no well-maintained roads in Tripura? Has @BjpBiplab really NEGLECTED DEVELOPMENT to this extent? Ridiculous how BJP repeatedly steals from the #BengalModel to showcase @MamataOfficial’s developmental work as theirs!”
Tripura Trinamul in-charge Rajib Banerjee said the picture on the competition poster was that of the Sealdah flyover.
Tripura minister and government spokesperson Sushanta Chowdhury told The Telegraph he was unaware of any such development as he had “just returned” from Delhi. “Let me check but Trinamul will say a lot of things after losing the (Tripura municipal) polls.”
The ad that bears the picture says: “Participate in the Motor Vehicle Driving Regulations Slogan Writing Competition for a chance to win a cash prize of Rs 5000.”
It has the tagline “Use your talent to make our roads safer” and the picture of a busy road that Trinamul says is of the Sealdah flyover.
Trinamul later said in a statement that for the third time in the past four months the BJP had tried to pass off the development done by Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee as their own.
“In November, the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation shared photographs of the Durgapur Airport in West Bengal and passed it off as an airport in Uttarakhand. Similarly, the Yogi Adityanath government had used pictures of Kolkata’s iconic Maa Flyover in a full-page advertorial in September to show the economic progress done by the UP government,” the Trinamul statement said.
Trinamul has been highlighting alleged underdevelopment and the law-and-order situation in Tripura since it decided to build a base in the state with an eye on the 2023 Assembly polls.
