Fight for scholarship against Centre: Mamata to students

Banerjee was speaking at the foundation day programme of Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) at Mayo Road on Friday afternoon. Giving a time limit of three months, Banerjee urged the students of West Bengal to march to Delhi and they will be followed by pupils from different states including Delhi, Maharashtra and Gujarat. She said that the Central government has made Aadhaar card mandatory to get scholarships. Interestingly, there is no Aadhaar card yet for the people till the age of 18 and only 40 per cent of the people in the state are having their Aadhaar cards. “I would urge the student community from the entire country to join the agitation,” she said. “Scholarships for students starting from class V to University goers have been stopped. Dalits are also being deprived. Christians and people from minority community, schedule caste and schedule tribes are also getting affected. It is the failure of the Centre that each and everyone are yet to get their Aadhaar cards. But why will the students’ community suffer for their failure?” she raised the question maintaining that Dola Sen, Rajya Sabha MP of Trinamool Congress, told her that her mother used to receive a pension and that has also been stopped. “I will have no problem if they become successful in giving scholarships to students after providing Aadhaar cards to all. But it would not be not right if they cancels it for not having Aadhaar card,” she said.

Apart from raising the issue of scholarship, she once again attacked the Centre for reduction of fund in different projects and the recent development on BSF training Narayani Sena that the Chief Minister has stated to be an attempt to divide the state and said: “If no concrete decision on all the issues is taken, then they would have been left with no other option apart from building up protest rallies.” She asked whether the students attended the rally were ready to go to Delhi in crowded trains and build up the agitation by eating puffed rice. She said that the Centre is reducing fund for many projects. “We topped the list among all states in 100 days work. But we are yet to receive Rs 1,700 crore from the centre. By doing all these, Narendra Modi will say at last that I have saved such a huge amount of money. I would like to ask whether he wants to get his name inscribed in Guinness Book of World Records by making coat using the money,” she said adding that the most important work they are having right now is to conduct cow census.