Rahul vs Mamata

The cratered 5km road Rahul Gandhi took to reach Zurantee Tea Estate in Jalpaiguri from Metelli on
Tuesday. Picture by Biplab Basak

TT, 25 March 2014: If Rahul Gandhi was silent in Calcutta, he had his say earlier in the day in north Bengal. Moments after a ride on a potholed path, Rahul criticised the Mamata Banerjee government.

ROADS

RAHUL: The central government sends more funds to the Bengal government for improvement of roads, health care and education than what it gives to any other state. Unfortunately, this is the road (the 5km potholed stretch of the Jalpaiguri zilla parishad-constructed road on which he travelled from Metelli to Zurantee) the Bengal government provides to the people. A journey that should not have taken more than two minutes, took 15 minutes. We don’t know why central funds are not being utilised to repair roads

MAMATA: We have developed all state highways. The national highways are in need of repair. They are not under the state government. Had they been under the state government, I would have got the work done in one day. They (Centre) don’t want to repair the national highways so that the Trinamul government gets a bad name

NON-UTILISATION OF FUNDS

RAHUL: Delhi gives crores to Calcutta for development work. However, it does not reach you. This money does not belong to any minister or MLA, it is your money. Bengal has given a lot to the country but unfortunately, the state has not made much progress.

MAMATA: They say they have given lots of money. I don’t want to take their names since they don’t deserve it. Do they have any idea how the system works, how funds are provided, under which head, how they are spent? It is being said we don’t know how to spend the money. The Centre collects around Rs 40,000 crore in taxes from Bengal and gives back only Rs 8 crore to Rs 10 crore for education, 100-day work, etc. They have taken away Rs 87,283 crore. We have not received any funds for agriculture and irrigation. We have also not got money under BRGF and JNNURM. Instead, they are saying big things. What they have done is gaddari with Bengal

Mamata Banerjee speaks at the workers’ meeting in Naxalbari,Picture by Kundan Yolmo

GOVERNMENTS IN BENGAL

RAHUL: You have removed the communists from the state. The mandate raised our hopes that the new government would work for the people. But the Trinamul Congress government is repeating what the party against which it fought did in its 34-year rule. There is only one government that can change the scenario and that is the Congress government at the Centre

MAMATA: They are saying Bengal has not done anything. We have spent Rs 450 crore on water supply. We have given 73,000 scholarships to students from the minority community and reserved 17 per cent seats (in education and government jobs) for minorities belonging to Other Backward Classes. Have they given even 1 per cent? We have provided funds for development of tourist lodges, orchards and Teesta flood prevention. Which area have we left untouched? Schools, colleges, separate secretariat for north Bengal....

GORKHALAND

RAHUL: “No comment,” when asked by The Telegraph about the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha’s statehood demand

MAMATA: We have brought peace to Darjeeling. They have come to disrupt peace here. There are some leaders, I don’t want to name them, who are going to Delhi. Had they (an apparent reference to the Morcha) come to us, we would have got the work done. The administration (the GTA in Darjeeling) is running in the name of Gorkhaland, though the name was decided before we came to power. What more do they want? We have given them money but they can’t spend it

TEA GARDEN WORKERS

RAHUL: We want to work out schemes for tea garden workers

MAMATA: There are five (closed) tea gardens here (in north Bengal). We are providing subsidised rice and atta to the workers and their families. Around 15,000 families are benefiting. Our government raised the wages of tea garden workers