Centre taking undue credit for lowering GST rates, move was initiated by state: Mamata

PTI, KOLKATA, SEPT 21, 2025 :  West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday claimed that the Centre was taking undue credit for lowering GST rates, though the move was initiated by the state. Her statement came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an address to the nation, said a “GST savings festival” will begin from the first day of ‘Navratri’ on Monday, which, coupled with the income tax exemption, will be a "double bonanza" for most people.

Without naming the Prime Minister, Banerjee said, “We are losing Rs 20,000 crore as revenue, but we are happy about the lowering of GST. But why are you (Modi) claiming credit for it? We had sought a lowered GST. It was our suggestion at the GST Council meeting."

She alleged that the Modi government has not released over Rs 1.92 crore as central project allocations in several schemes such as MGNREGS. “You are taking away our money, causing difficulties for us to run state-sponsored welfare projects like Lakshmir Bhandar and Krishak Bandhu. We will continue to run our social welfare schemes nevertheless,” she said. The Centre has no work other than giving speeches, the TMC supremo alleged.

Banerjee also referred to the alleged harassment of Bengali-speaking migrants in BJP-ruled states. "If I speak in Bengali, that is illegal, and if I speak in another language, that is legal. How can you (BJP-ruled government) say so? Why should migrants be thrown out, being labelled as Bangladeshis? None has the right to insult our Bengali-speaking residents,” she said. There are allegations that several Bengali-speaking people hailing from West Bengal were sent to Bangladesh by the authorities of various states. Cases in this regard are pending in the Calcutta High Court. She asserted that 24,000 migrants came back to the state from outside, and 10,000 of them were deployed again.