Mamata Banerjee drills holes into BJP poll promises- asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi had fulfilled his 2014 promise of depositing Rs 15 lakh in the bank accounts of each Indian.
In its manifesto, the party has assured several schemes for women, including 33 per cent reservation for them in government jobs and free travel in public transport
The Trinamul Congress chief threw the question at the audience in three back-to-back public meetings as she tried to convince people that the BJP’s poll promises remained only on paper.
“I will ask those who voted for the BJP earlier whether they received Rs 15 lakh in their accounts as per their promise? Then, why will you vote for the BJP? They deliver sweet words before elections, they promise to give rice, pulses, jobs and everything. After the election, they just vanish,” Mamata said while addressing her second rally in Bankura’s Katulpur on Monday afternoon.
Drilling holes into the BJP’s manifesto — or Sankalpa Patra as mentioned by Union home minister Amit Shah while he released it on Sunday — was the main theme of all the three addresses Mamata delivered in Bankura on Monday as she led the Trinamul campaign to recover the ground the party had lost to the BJP in the Jungle Mahal in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
In its manifesto, the BJP has promised several schemes for women, including 33 per cent reservation for women in all government jobs in the state and free travel in public transport.
“It is just a false assurance that the BJP will secure 33 per cent jobs for women. They have promised only 33 per cent reservation for women whereas our government ensured 50 per cent reservation in rural bodies and municipalities. Our party is the only political party which gives 40 per cent reservation for the women members in Parliament. I will empower my mothers and sisters with a lot of projects,” Mamata said in Katulpur.
The fact that the saffron camp has done little for women empowerment is evident from the fact that such reservation for women doesn’t exist at the Centre or in any of the 17 states where it is in power, either exclusively or in alliance.
Mamata’s doubts about the veracity of the BJP’s pledges were echoed by the Left parties, especially the CPM, which ridiculed the BJP’s promise of employment to at least one person in each family in five years.
Citing the example of neighbouring Tripura, where the Left Front ruled before the BJP came to power in 2018, CPM leaders said the BJP had promised 50,000 government jobs in the first year itself in the northeastern state.
“Three years down the line, the BJP is now planning to do away with government jobs altogether. It has planned to hire people as and when required from private agencies," a CPM leader said.
The fact that the unemployment in the country has worsened under the BJP rule has been established by available data in public domain as there has been record joblessness under the Modi regime.
The BJP’s another big bang promise — implementation of the 7th Pay Commission in Bengal — can also be questioned by looking at the Tripura experience where the BJP government has not paid the promised dearness allowance to government employees and the arrears are only mounting with each passing month.
The Sankalp Patra’s promise of hiking stipend to windows from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000 is unlikely to evoke much interest as the widows in Tripura get Rs 1,000 a month even three years after voting the BJP, which had promised to raise it from Rs 700 to Rs 2,000 after coming to power.
“The BJP manifesto is like an audio cassette, which you will only hear, but cannot see,” said Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee.
Mamata, from her Bankura rallies, also accused the BJP of copying her call of poriborton and including schemes in the manifesto, which were already present in the state.
“Porborton is my slogan. They are copying it,” she said.
Mamata also criticised the BJP for its promise to implement Citizenship Amendment Act in Bengal, a promise the BJP has not made in poll-bound Assam before launching an attack on the BJP for trying to divide the country in the name of National Register of Citizens and National Population Register, which she has been opposing.
“I will request my brothers and sisters to ask those who live outside the state to come and cast his or her vote here. Otherwise, the BJP will use the NRC and the NPR to remove their names from the list just like what they did with 14 lakh people in Assam. I will not allow the NPR or the NRC till my last breathe,” Mamata said.
She also said the BJP’s promises about refugee rehabilitation schemes didn’t mean anything.
“They are saying about refugee welfare and colonies. We have already given citizenships to all and you don’t need to dig soil in it,” she said.
The fact that the BJP manifesto, which has large sections on PM Kisan Samman Nidhi and claims on free education to the children of small, marginalised and landless farmers, is silent about the three contentious farms bills has also drawn criticism from the opposition parties in Bengal.
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