Durgapur: In a scathing attack on the Trinamool Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused it of killing the aspirations of the middle-class people in the state and said the ruling party in West Bengal is known for “triple T – Trinamool Tolabaji Tax”. In local parlance, ‘tolabaji’ is roughly understood as an act of organised extortion. Addressing a BJP rally in this industrial town, Modi also alleged that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was treading the path of the previous communist government to trample democracy. “The TMC is killing the people’s aspirations but the Centre will fulfil their (people’s) dreams,” the prime minister said. The interim Budget presented in Parliament Friday is a reflection of the BJP government’s policy of ‘Saabka Saath Saabka Vikas’, he said. The prime minister claimed the Centre has approved infrastructure projects worth Rs 90,000 crore in the past four-and-a-half years for the state but the TMC government did not take interest in implementing them as it wanted a share for the “syndicate”. “The TMC doesn’t take interest in initiating development projects where there is no share for the syndicate… where there is no ‘malai’ (cream),” he alleged.
“Right from admission in schools and colleges, jobs in educational institutes and elsewhere one has to pay ‘triple T’ to get their work done. But this cannot continue always,” Modi said. PM Modi cut his speech short at a rally in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district and later apologised after several women and children fainted following a stampede-like situation at the venue. An officer manning the state police control room said two-three women had fainted. Meanwhile, Alleging that PM Modi was “compelling” his officers to send notices for “humiliating opposition political leaders”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said she had no problem if the authorities choose to arrest her. “I have opposed the (interim) Budget. I have said a few words before you. For this if they arrested me also, I don’t have a problem,” Ms Banerjee told the media. Ms Banerjee hastened to add: “My Hindi is not good. I said they may do it because this is their habit”. The Trinamool Congress supremo, however, said she was not blaming officials. Ms Banerjee said she was waiting for the day when even the person who cooks her food would be questioned by government agencies. The Chief Minister’s outburst came a day after Manik Majumdar, her close aide and long-time secretary of the small office at her south Kolkata’s Kalighat residence, was quizzed by the CBI in the multi-billion rupee Saradha ponzi scam.