Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, during the ongoing debate on the Union budget in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, mounted a sharp attack on the Trinamool Congress, accusing the Mamata Banerjee-led government of presiding over a collapse of law and order in Bengal.

Her remarks triggered noisy protests from Trinamool MPs.

“Bengal mein bomb chalta hai, kanoon nahi chalta (In Bengal, bombs work, not law)," Sitharaman said, referring to a June 2025 blast in Kaliganj in which a schoolgirl was killed. She told the House that a leader had been arrested in connection with the Kaliganj incident.

“In Kaliganj, in June 2025, a girl was killed in a bomb blast. A TMC leader was also arrested in that case. In Medinipur, a TMC leader was arrested in connection with a bomb incident,” she said. As TMC MPs rose in protest, Sitharaman pressed on, citing National Crime Records Bureau data. “The conviction rate for crimes in Bengal ranks 35th out of 36 states. And they are pointing fingers at us,” she said.

Sitharaman referred to an alleged gangrape in October 2025 of an MBBS student from Odisha studying in Durgapur, and targeted chief minister Mamata Banerjee over reported remarks advising women not to venture out at night. “You (Mamata) are not improving the law and order situation, but keep putting the blame on women,” she said.

Her counter-offensive came a day after Trinamool Lok Sabha leader Abhishek Banerjee attacked the BJP during the budget discussion, accusing the Centre of denying Bengal its due and harassing Bengali-speaking migrants. He had also asserted that the BJP would again lose the 2026 Assembly polls in Bengal.

Abhishek claimed that Bengal was not mentioned once in the Union budget and that proposed freight corridor from Dankuni cited by the Centre had been announced in 2009 by then railway minister Mamata.

Rejecting the charge, Sitharaman countered that the Union budget had proposed a new east-west dedicated freight corridor from Dankuni to Surat. “Leaders of Bengal are so pained that they say Mamata Banerjee had announced this earlier. This is absolutely false. What I have announced is new,” she said, adding that the earlier proposal was from Ludhiana to Calcutta via Dankuni did not materialise. “Do not attempt to hog credit for everything,” she said.

Sitharaman accused Abhishek of misleading the House with what she termed “completely untrue” claims that milk was being taxed under the GST regime. “Since 2017, when GST was introduced, there is no tax on milk. From where is he getting all this data?” she asked.

Taking exception to Abhishek’s remark that citizens were taxed “from birth to death”, Sitharaman said: “In a very attractive way, Abhishek Banerjee said that there is tax from ‘birth to death’. I was very pained by this. There is no tax on funeral services.... How can you go on like this saying untruth?”