Centre busy in headline management, achhe din a distant dream: Abhishek

Taking a dig at the Central government, the president of Trinamool Youth Congress  said, “The CM of West Bengal wrote to the PM in April-May 2015 detailing the ways in which the Centre was short-changing the States. There has been no positive response.”

The MP also attacked the BJP-led NDA government for failing to maintain the relationship between states and the Center. “A Government that tweets on every subject, but remains silent and mum when Dalits are killed and young minds in Kashmir are pained,” he added.

While talking of fiscal transfers to the states, Banerjee mentioned, “The reality is different. Allocations for 39 major schemes have been withdrawn and 58 key welfare schemes have been scaled down. Also, 8 programmes that had Central funding have been cut.”

Unlike the state’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Abhishek also raked up the weighing down by a massive debt of more than Rs. 3 lakh crore left behind by the previous dispensation.

“Other states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh also have debt in excess of Rs 2 lakh crores. Has there been any waiver? Has there been any support? Has there been any debt relief? Has the Central Government taken any initiative to reduce the debt burden or truncate the same?, he affirmed. The state government also demanded the Supplementary Demand for Grants, Rs. 40,000 crore has been allocated as Ways and Means Advance to the Food Corporation of India. 

“Given the inflation situation in the country and the crucial role of the Public Distribution System for the common man, it is not clear why this allocation was not made during the Budget Session and is coming up at this stage,” added Banerjee.

“Bengal has the lowest inflation rate in the country, less than 3%, according to the latest Economic Survey published by the Central government. The inflation rate for the entire country is 5.7%. From day one of this Monsoon Session, my colleagues from Trinamool have been strongly raising this issue of price rise both inside and outside Parliament,” he added.

On MGNREGA he said, “The BJP has always criticised MGNREGA as a failure and have ridiculed it as a scheme for ‘digging holes’. This is reflected in the scheme’s overall performance.”

The parliamentarian also claimed that the Centre’s most talked about scheme “Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” is  a scheme that was modeled and repackaged on West Bengal’s Kanyashree scheme. “I wonder how much of it went into newspaper advertisements and social media campaigns. What is the budget for the Kanyashree scheme in West Bengal today? More than Rs. 1000 crores.Almost 10 times more than the Centre for just one State. That’s Bengal for you!” he affirmed. He also claimed the center has been failed to fulfill its promises made before the 2014 general election. 

In the past two years, cooperative federalism has merely been a slogan. An empty slogan, not the reality, he added.

Slamming the center for being busy in “headline management”, Banerjee said that anger was rising against the current government and there is no achhe din in sight for the jawans in Kashmir or the farmers in Kanyakumari.

He also claimed that the Central Government believes in an event management agency. They create big ads with big promises. Write catchy slogans. Make lots of noise. Try and do headline management. But the result is total mismanagement.