Senior Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Wednesday said that had the West Bengal government implemented the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme, over 90 per cent of the state’s population would have been deprived of its benefits due to what he described as stringent eligibility conditions.
Without directly referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent attack on the Trinamool government over the non-implementation of the central scheme during his visit to the state, Abhishek highlighted the accessibility of Bengal’s own Swasthya Sathi health scheme.
"They claim that the Mamata Banerjee government has blocked the Ayushman Bharat scheme in Bengal. I want to tell the people that you would be disqualified from the scheme if you own a smartphone or a TV, a motorcycle, a radio, or even if you have a concrete roof over your head. These conditions have been fixed by the Modi government," he said at the TMC Rana Sankalp Sabha (war resolve rally) in Purulia district.
"But Swasthya Sathi comes with no such conditions, which is why its benefits are accessible to all," the Trinamool leader added.
Purulia, considered a BJP stronghold where the saffron camp won six of the nine assembly seats in 2021, including the Kashipur constituency where Banerjee held his rally, saw the TMC leader underline that the Mamata Banerjee administration made no distinction between voters and non-voters while extending cashless health benefits to all 28 lakh residents.
"Had Bengal implemented Ayushman Bharat, only 90 lakh out of its 10 crore people would have qualified to receive the scheme's benefits, leaving the remaining 9.1 crore citizens high and dry. The Swasthya Sathi scheme, on the other hand, is available to all 10 crore people. Now you tell me which you prefer, Ayushman Bharat or Swasthya Sathi?" Abhishek said.
During his BJP public meeting at Malda on January 17, Modi had said that the TMC blocked the central health scheme because it "doesn't care about people's sufferings and is only interested in filling its own coffers".
"Today, Bengal is the only state where the Ayushman Bharat scheme has not been implemented. The TMC government is preventing my brothers and sisters in Bengal from availing the benefits of the Ayushman scheme. It is essential to bid farewell to such a cruel and heartless government from Bengal," Modi had said.
Abhishek also highlighted the state's monthly cash incentive scheme for women.
Saying that the 'Lakshmir Bhandar' scheme is being handed out to beneficiaries, he alleged that the BJP has blocked funds meant for the poor and backward communities of the state because it "failed to win elections here".
"The BJP currently rules 15 states in the country. I challenge that party to implement a condition-free scheme like Lakshmir Bhandar for women in any of those states," the Trinamool leader said.
As TMC’s national general secretary, Abhishek promised to take up local governance issues highlighted by the electorate once Purulia delivers a "9-0 verdict in favour of the TMC" in state polls.
"I have been apprised of the issues regarding railway connectivity in this district. I promise to take a 20-member delegation to the railways ministry to voice the people's demands within three months of the election results," he said.
He also pledged to take responsibility for addressing demands related to health and civic infrastructure improvements within six months of the polls.
