Assets Centre seeks to monetise are owned by country, not PM: Mamata

Her comments came while she was replying to questions on central teams visiting West Bengal to inquire about state government schemes

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee at Nabanna on Wednesday: Telegraph picture

Pranesh Sarkar   |   TT  |  Calcutta   |   26.08.21: Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the assets that the central government was seeking to monetise were owned by the country and not the Prime Minister or the BJP, her comments making it clear that Trinamul would amplify its criticism in the coming days.

“We condemn this shocking and unfortunate decision. These assets belong to the country. It is neither the property of (Narendra) Modi nor the BJP. They (central government) can’t just sell a country's assets as per their whims and fancies,” the chief minister said at Nabanna.

“The BJP should be ashamed. No one has given them the right to sell our nation’s assets,” she said.

Her comments came while she was replying to questions on central teams visiting the state to inquire about state government schemes.

The chief minister’s comment is significant as this is the first time she commented on the Centre’s plan of putting infrastructure assets on the block to generate revenue from private players under the National Monetisation Pipeline scheme.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had already upped the ante against the Centre for its alleged attempt to hand over the national assets to a select few industrialists.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday had announced the Rs 6 lakh crore NMP scheme that seeks to unlock value in infrastructure assets across sectors ranging from power to roads and railways.

Trinamul’s Rajya Sabha chief whip Sukhendu Sekhar Ray issued a statement on Tuesday claiming the Centre was surrendering helplessly to corporate entities.

On Wednesday, Mamata started from where Ray had ended and said the entire country would stand together to oppose this “anti-people” decision.

She also explained why she considered the decision anti-people. “It is not a BJP affair... It is important for the entire country...nobody can do whatever they wish,” she said.

Mamata juxtaposed the issue with the visit of the central teams, which are in the state to check whether the National Rural Livelihood Mission and several other rural development schemes are being properly run in Bengal.

Sources in Trinamul said her comments on the monetisation of public assets were important as they hinted that she would use the NMP as an issue to attack the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“The chief minister is eyeing the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and this particular issue could be a strong weapon for her to launch an attack on the BJP as people also have reservations against the privatisation of public assets,” said a Trinamul leader.