Alleging that the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal has started an unprecedented oppression on Bharatijya Janata Party workers, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is on a two-day visit to the State, on Thursday said that the death knell of the Trinamool Congress government has been sounded.
“With the kind of the cycle of oppression that has been unleashed particularly on the BJP workers by the Mamata Banerjee government, I can say with certainty that the death knell for the Mamata government has been sounded. In the times to come, the BJP will form the government here with a two-thirds majority,” Mr. Shah told journalists in Bankura.
The Union Home Minister started his visit to Bankura by garlanding a statue of Birsa Munda and said that the benefits of Central schemes were not reaching the people of the State, including the Adivasi population.
“In this Adivasi area, the money for construction of houses is not reaching the people. Farmers are not getting ₹6,000, which is being allocated by the Centre, and the poor families are deprived of ₹5 lakh health insurance benefit. There are 80 schemes of the Centre aimed at the welfare of the poor and Adivasis, but the benefits of all schemes are not reaching the people,” the BJP leader said.
Mr. Shah said that if Mamata Banerjee thinks that by stopping the central government schemes she can stop the BJP, then she is mistaken. “If she allows the benefits of ₹6,000 to reach every farmer, and also health benefit, toilet and housing schemes to reach the poor, then people may give a thought to her,” Mr. Shah said.
Central schemes
The issue of non-implementation of two Central schemes — Ayushman Bharat and PM Kisan — has been a subject of debate in West Bengal. While the Trinamool Congress government maintains that it has launched similar schemes for the people of the State, the BJP leadership has been raising questions as to why the Central schemes cannot be implemented in the State. Recently, the Chief Minister wrote to the Ministries of Health and Agriculture, saying that she was willing to implement the schemes if they were routed through the State.
Mr. Shah said that, on one hand, he could see huge anger among people against the Mamata Banerjee government and, on the other, there was hope among the people that there would be change in West Bengal under the leadership of Narendra Modi. The Home Minister sought the support of people for a “Sonar Bangla (Golden Bengal)”. During the day, he and other BJP leaders are scheduled to have lunch at a tribal house in Bankura’s Chaturdihi village.
The Trinamool Congress reacted sharply to Mr. Shah’s claims of forming the next government in Bengal. “The BJP is daydreaming when it says that it will form the next government in Bengal with a two-thirds majority. All sections of people, including the poor and Adivasis of West Bengal, are with Mamata Banerjee,” TMC MP Saugata Roy said.