Without naming them, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee fired a fresh salvo at the BJP and its communal politics. At the Jhargram public meeting yesterday, she told the crowd, “Never believe them. They sell their gods for their own ends.”
At the extended core committee meeting of the Trinamool Congress last June, the Chief Minister had taken the responsibility for Jhargram district on her shoulders. Yesterday’s visit to Jhargram was the second one after that; earlier, she had visited during Hul Dibas.
She said, “When I used to come here earlier, the local people had numerous complaints. It was from them I came to know that the people of Jangalmahal did not get to eat for half the year. But after our government came to power, development has been made a priority. Now people get rice and wheat at Rs 2 per kg. The government has allotted 8kg rice and 3kg wheat per person – therefore, each person in Jangalmahal gets 11kg of foodgrains per month. Hence if a family is made up of five people, it gets 55kg of foodgrains each month. I’ve heard not everyone needs so much, and so some even sell the extra portion in the open market.”
The recent political narrative in Bengal has been rife with talk about the deaths of five people belonging to the Sabar community in Purnapani in Lalgarh block. Mamata Banerjee laid to rest all controversies with her answer in the Assembly during this winter session. She repeated the same at the meeting. “These Adivasis were not killed because of malnutrition or poverty. I do not believe there is anyone without food now.”
About the BJP she said, “Like they want Hindus and Muslims to be at each other’s throats, so do they want Adivasis and Mahatos to be. They don’t have the capacity to provide for them, they just want to set up fights among themselves. Before elections, they come running with bagfuls of money. Take their money but don’t vote for them.
She continued her tirade, now taking up demonetisation and GST. She said, “Demonetisation could not bring back black money. The extra money the BJP had, they used up for elections. The BJP bought the votes of the marginalised in exchange for money. They misled them.”
Due to having money power, the big parties get advantage during campaigning. The Trinamool chairperson averred that this impinges on the functioning of a democracy.
Mamata Banerjee said, “At every opportunity, they are hailing ‘Jai Shree Ram’. I say, if you all have Rama we have Durga. It was Ramachandra only who had worshipped Durga. If their leader is Rama, our leader is Durga. Actually they worship Ravana. They sell their gods in lieu of money. And set fire to the country with their acts and deeds.”
Holding up the way the Trinamool Government crushed Maoist activities in Bengal, the Chief Minister lambasted the Chhattisgarh on the same.
To the party workers and administration officials she said, “There are some people who are coming from outside the State and preaching wrong things to the people. You go to the people and hold up the truth in front of them.”
