Trinamool Congress wasted no time in returning fire after the Narendra Modi rally, calling the Prime Minister a “liar”, tearing into him for unfulfilled promises towards Bengal, for the absence of answers on the saffron camp’s alleged prejudice against Bengali-speaking Indians, and for the state of the nation under this regime.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s party fielded its state general secretary Kunal Ghosh and its women’s wing chief – also the state finance minister – Chandrima Bhattacharya to conduct a news conference from the party headquarters to counter Modi.
“Unfortunately, he gave an address full of absolute lies and fake facts…. It hurts my ethics to call our Prime Minister a liar, but it is what it is,” said Ghosh.
Trinamool claimed Mamata is busy bringing about development for Bengal, shouldering responsibilities of even the Modi government at the Centre, while the Prime Minister and his party remain busy lying to mislead and distract, to keep attention away from the allegedly very many failures of the saffron regime.
“Why did he come empty-handed today? Where is Bengal’s rightful due of Rs 1.7 lakh crore that the Centre owes it? He will not give us what he owes but has fabricated a story for another Rs 5,400 crore,” said Ghosh. Rs 5,400 was the total worth of development projects unveiled by Modi at Durgapur from a government platform before his political rally.
“The area in which he was standing, he has not even given the funds to pay workers employed under the MGNREGA from that very area. Who gave the money? Mamata Banerjee,” added Ghosh.
Trinamool recalled Modi’s 2014 campaign promise of generating two crore jobs every year, and wondered where they were.
“He has been here for 11 years, so that makes 22 crore jobs. Where are those? In the parliamentary standing committee, he said only 22 lakh jobs have been generated,” said Ghosh.
“Of the nation’s youth, 30 per cent are jobless now, and that number is only increasing,” he added.
Bhattacharya said it’s best if Modi stops embarrassing himself by saying the kind of things he has been saying.
“What is he trying to show, his love for Bengal? While he constantly detains and deports (Bengali-speaking Indians)? He said a double-engine government is needed in Bengal. But what are they doing in other double-engine-ruled states? Insulting Bengal and Bengali-speaking people… but he did not say anything about that,” she said.
“He is deporting (Indian) Bengalis by labelling them as Rohingya. He said that they are foreigners,” she added. “They are stopping them from exercising their right to speech and movement. This is the respect he has for our Constitution.”
Trinamool also demanded answers on heinous crimes against women in BJP-ruled states, and action taken thereafter, jeering at Modi’s show of empathy for women in the context of such crimes in Bengal.
“The entire country is unsafe under the BJP…. Narendra Modi does not have the right to come and lecture us. He has spewed absolute lies, he has not given us our rightful money, and he has given us some imaginary assurance of development,” said Ghosh.
INDIA meet
Mamata’s nephew and heir apparent Abhishek Banerjee will represent Trinamool in an INDIA meeting, virtually, on Saturday. This is the first time since the immediate aftermath of the general election results last year that Trinamool would properly participate in an INDIA exercise.
On Wednesday, Mamata – who had all but abandoned the national Opposition bloc -- had notably brought up INDIA in an anti-BJP diatribe.
“Underestimate us at your own peril. Bengal will remain in our (Trinamool’s) control even in 2026, and after that, the INDIA bloc will fight to seize control of Delhi... do not take us lightly,” she had said.
