‘Think of atrocities Left committed before casting your vote’

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress (TMC) national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Friday said that PM Modi must release a white paper to support his claims of fund release to Bengal while appealing to the voters to think of the atrocities committed against them by the Left before casting their votes.

Banerjee, while speaking at an election rally in support of party candidate Asit Mal, urged Modi to release a ‘White Paper’ detailing the funds allocated by the Centre to West Bengal under the ‘PM Awas Yojana’ over the past three to four years.

He challenged if PM Modi can prove that his government provided a single penny to Bengal for the scheme, he will stop reaching out to people to ask for votes for his party candidates in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.“The Central government has conspired not to release funds for the people of Bengal. I would urge the PM that instead of giving lectures, he must release a ‘White Paper’ detailing the funds disbursed to the people of Bengal for the Awas Yojana,” Banerjee said and reminded people how TMC led a protest in Delhi and in Bengal to demand the dues for Bengal.

Banerjee also reminded the gathering how the state government had to ultimately pay the dues for 100-day work under MGNREGA scheme.

He said: “Centre stopped funds for poor 100-day workers. We told them we will fight in Delhi and pay your dues. In February, the state government paid the dues to 3,19,759 people in Birbhum directly to their bank accounts. We keep our word. For the last 10 years, the BJP government has been in the Centre. How much fund was given to Bengal? In five years, Rs. 465000 crore were taken away from Bengal but Rs 1,65000 of the poor were withheld.” Condemning the “shocking incident” in connection with Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose, he questioned BJP’s ‘Nari Samman’ claims.

Addressing the gathering, Abhishek said that in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections TMC trailed in one of the Assembly seats from Birbhum seat- Mayureshwar.

He said that in the 2021 Assembly elections, TMC won with a good vote margin in all Assembly seats. Urging people to vote for TMC, he reminded them how the allowance for women under Lakshmir Bhandar was increased.