The BJP has lined up a number of events in Bengal to highlight alleged corruption by the Mamata Banerjee government with a focus on suspected irregularities in the public distribution system (PDS).
In the name of Bijoya meets, the BJP plans to conduct numerous anti-corruption campaign events across the state over the next few weeks, highlighting the arrest of chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s senior cabinet colleague Jyoti Priya Mallick. He was the food and supplies minister when the alleged irregularities in the PDS took place.
A source said the BJP was planning a slew of political activities on the ground, starting from the gram panchayat level, to highlight how the alleged corruption model of the Trinamul Congress affected over six crore people who depend on the PDS.
“By the end of November, we will organise a mega protest rally in Calcutta with at least one lakh people, including thousands of those who are dependent on the PDS. Ahead of the Calcutta rally, district BJP leaders will hold meetings in every gram panchayat,” said a senior BJP leader in Calcutta.
The BJP has been prioritising the PDS “scam” over all else as the party feels the anomalies in the ration delivery could have a greater impact on the ground and help the party reap a richer harvest of political dividends.
Central agencies like the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have been probing a set of corruption cases against Trinamul leaders and arrested three other party MLAs since July last year.
Palashipara MLA Manik Bhattacharya was arrested in October 2022, while Jiban Krishna Saha who represents Burwan was held in April. In July last year, Behala East MLA and then minister Partha Chatterjee was arrested. Chatterjee was the industry minister as well as the secretary general of Trinamul. All the three were arrested in connection with alleged irregularities in the appointment of staff at schools.
Trinamul’s Birbhum strongman Anubrata Mondal was also arrested in relation to an alleged cattle-rustling scam.
“Health, education and food supplies are the three major pillars of any state. This model of corruption in food supplies in the regime of Mamata Banerjee not only deprived crores of poor people of Bengal of the PDS but also cheated lakhs of farmers who failed to sell their paddy at the minimum support price,” said Samik Bhattacharya, the chief spokesperson of the BJP in Bengal.
A BJP insider said the party hoped the involvement of more government officials and many other leaders in the PDS "scam" would be revealed soon.
The Trinamul leadership said the BJP’s plan to make corruption an issue on the ground against the state government wouldn't be successful as there was no complaint from PDS beneficiaries.
“There is not a single complaint or allegation that came from a beneficiary. There is no report of an agitation by common people over the distribution of rations at any place in the state. This is because people received free rations on their doorsteps,” said Trinamul state general secretary Kunal Ghosh.
“People of Bengal know that the arrest of our former food minister and the so-called scam in the PDS are the moves by the BJP to tarnish the image of our party and government. The BJP would never be successful with this vendetta politics, misusing central agencies,” he added.
