A day after Union house minister Amit Shah welcomed seven Trinamool Congress (TMC) legislators, together with Suvendu Adhikari, and three from different events to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at a rally in Midnapore, the place he attacked Bengal’s ruling occasion and authorities, the TMC on Sunday hit again with what it referred to as a “fact sheet” on the second day of Shah’s go to to the state.
The TMC and the occasion’s chief within the Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien, put out knowledge on social media to counter Shah’s claims. Shah’s Sunday go to to Visva Bharati, Bengal’s solely Central college, which was arrange by Rabindranath Tagore, was additionally criticised by the TMC and Left pupil unions.
“Shah claimed on Saturday that 300 BJP workers have been killed in Bengal in one-and-a-half years. This is a lie. Many BJP workers are being killed in faction feuds. Even suicides are being passed off as political killings. Fact is that since 1998, 1,027 TMC workers have been killed,” stated senior TMC chief Subrata Mukherjee.
On Saturday, Shah defended Adhikari, who was branded by the TMC as a traitor. “Didi (Mamata Banerjee), didn’t you leave the Congress and came to the TMC? Wasn’t it changing allegiance,” Shah stated.
“Mamata Banerjee did not leave the Congress to join another party. If a Union minister tried to sell off the history of our country one needs to protest. Banerjee was not a defector. She set up the TMC, a new party, in 1998,” stated Mukherjee.
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“Shah also claimed that people in Bengal do not get benefits under the Centre’s Ayushmann Bharat healthcare scheme. He does not know the facts. Banerjee started the Swasthya Sathi programme two years before Ayushmann Bharat was launched. Under this scheme, 1.4 crore families have been provided health insurance that covers expenses up to ₹5 lakh per annum,” stated Mukherjee.
“Shah claimed that farmers in Bengal are deprived of ₹6,000 per annum under the Prime Minister’s central scheme. Reality is that Bengal provides farmers annual assistance of ₹5,000 per acre under the Krishak Bandhu programme. The central scheme provides only ₹1,214 per acre,” stated Mukherjee.
“Shah had food at a villager’s home on Saturday and said the house was provided under the Prime Minster Awas Yojna scheme,” stated Mukherjee.
“The Centre pays 60% of the money under this scheme while the state pays the rest. Between 2011-2020, the state has built 33,87,000 houses costing ₹39,993 crore. Under the state’s own Geetanjali Prakalpa, 3,90,000 houses were built at an expense of ₹3,550 crore. Under the Housing for All scheme, 4,30,000 houses were built. This cost the state exchequer another ₹7,000 crore,” stated Mukherjee.
During the day, chief minister Mamata Banerjee condemned the Centre’s transfer to ship three Indian Police Service officers to different states. These officers have been accountable for the safety of BJP nationwide chief JP Nadda’s convoy that was stoned in South 24 Parganas district on December 10.
TMC leaders stated chief ministers from non-BJP-dominated states had referred to as up Banerjee and expressed their solidarity together with her on this concern.
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“Centre is brazenly interfering with State Govt functioning by transferring police officers. My gratitude to @bhupeshbaghel @ArvindKejriwal @capt_amarinder @ashokgehlot51 & @mkstalin for showing solidarity to people of Bengal & reaffirming their commitment to federalism. Thank you!” tweeted Mamata Banerjee on Sunday.
On Sunday, Shah’s go to to Visva Bharati was additionally criticised by the TMC.
TMC leaders in Kolkata staged a protest by towards placards with pictures of Shah positioned above these of Tagore that have been discovered throughout Bolpur city on Friday. This triggered a robust response amongst native residents. Claiming that the TMC had put up the placards to sabotage Shah’s go to, BJP staff rapidly eliminated them.
The Students Federation of India, the scholars’ wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), alleged that college students who opposed Shah’s go to to Visva Bharati have been pressured by the college authorities to withdraw protest. “When the students refused to comply, the police put two student leaders under house arrest…,” stated SFI nationwide basic secretary Mayukh Biswas. A police official at stated no such motion was taken.
