Express News Service
KOLKATA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday targeted West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee saying that the 'syndicate raj' in the state will soon be over and that the ruling Trinamool Congress should read the writing on the wall.
Speaking at Krishak Sabha at Midnapore town of Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal on Monday, Prime Minister Modi attacked the Mamata Banerjee government over 'syndicate raj'.
"The TMC uses syndicate to extort, kill opposition cadres, snatch farmer's produce and for vote bank politics and appeasement politics. The syndicate will decide where the farmers will sell their crops and at what rate, where cements, sand and tin will be bought from and one even needs permission to get admitted to the colleges," he said.
The Prime Minister added that people of Bengal were waiting to remove shackles, an indirect reference to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
"Just a few more months. Bengal is waiting for an opportunity to remove the shackles. People of Bengal have to be united like Tripura to uproot the syndicate raj," he added.
Taking a dig at TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, the Prime Minister said: "Days of every tormenter ends. TMC should read the writing on the wall in Bengal. People of Bengal won't spare those who don't believe in democracy, courts and election process."
He stated the present state government was worse than the previous Left Front government. "Did you get freedom from Leftists to choose a worse government? Left Front had destroyed the industrial growth of Bengal and Mamata government has dragged in further down," he added.
The Prime Minister added that BJP's Dalit workers were killed one after another but the party held ground which ensured their victory in the western districts during the panchayat elections. Narrating the works of the Centre, the Prime Minister said that the Centre has hiked Minimum Support Price (MSP) of various farm produce and aim to double the income of the farmers by 2022 by focusing on bee farming and animal husbandry.
He also said that the present government's classification of bamboo as grass has helped in its cultivation and sale. He also targeted the state government over wastage of potato produce in West Bengal and demanded that more storage facilities be built to minimise wastage of farm produce. He also said that the Centre was working to upgrade 22,000 village haats.
He also took a dig at the Chief Minister saying that she put up her hoardings with folded arms all over Midnapore town to welcome the Prime Minister.
On the other hand, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh claimed that 42 per cent farmers of the state could not exercise their right to give a vote in panchayat elections due to violence which he said, claimed lives of many farmers.
