The Trinamool Congress on Saturday alleged that BJP goons had indulged in violence during the panchayat elections in West Bengal and not the ruling party's cadre as claimed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an address earlier in the day. Claiming that the PM's accusations against the TMC government were untrue, West Bengal minister Sashi Panja also accused the BJP government at the Centre of depriving West Bengal of its financial dues under various schemes.
Virtually addressing the BJP's Panchayati Raj Parishad in West Bengal on Friday, the Prime Minister had earlier in the day criticised the TMC for using 'terror and threats' to intimidate the opposition in the state during the rural polls held in July. "Is it because the BJP could not win the panchayat polls that terror and intimidation are being alleged? It is the BJP which indulged in violence in Bengal," Panja said, seeking to counter the PM's accusations against the Mamata Banerjee dispensation. "The Prime Minister does not have time to visit Manipur, but does find time to address party workers in Bengal," Panja said.
Her party colleague, TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien claimed that even in the face of intimidation, "Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress will not do ji hazoor (bow down) to you; we will fight you politically." He claimed that PM Cares Fund is completely non-transparent and demanded that the full list of contributors to the fund be released. The TMC spokesman also claimed demonetisation of high value currency notes in 2016 failed, and added that the list of reasoning given for taking the measure remained. "Black money is still in circulation, terrorism is far from over," he said. O'Brien claimed that Covid management by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was a "disaster" for the working class, with the migrant workers bearing the brunt of hastily taken lock-down decisions.
Reacting to the PM castigating the opposition for walking out during the no-confidence motion, the TMC in a social media message, also said, "It takes walking out of the opposition from Parliament for you to speak on Manipur." The party claimed that the opposition MPs waited patiently for 90 minutes during the PM's speech before walking out of the Parliament. Panja rubbished BJP's claims of atrocities being perpetrated upon Adivasis and Dalits in Bengal and instead claimed that BJP-ruled states were culprits on this score.
"It is in the BJP-ruled states like Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh where Dalits and Adivasi are victimised," Panja asserted. Claiming that the BJP is still unable to accept defeat in the 2021 assembly elections and 2023 panchayat polls in Bengal, Panja said that the Prime Minister is trying to paint a different picture of the TMC's victories by stating that there was violence during the polls. Claiming that a CAG report has pointed to gaps in Ayushman Bharat and some other central schemes, Panja said that the PM should throw some light on the issue.
The TMC tweeted that according to a NITI Aayog report, West Bengal has surpassed Gujarat in tackling multidimensional poverty and out-performed the BJP-ruled state in indicators of health, education and standard of living. She also claimed Centre owes Rs 7,500 crore to Bengal on account of MNREGA, it asked for an immediate release of the funds to the state if the PM "cares about poor families."
The TMC also claimed that the BJP had itself been guilty of unleashing unprecedented violence in the 2019 rural polls in Tripura which it said saw the saffron party winning some 80 per cent without any contest. O'Brien also repeated the charge that a large percentage of seats were won uncontested by the ruling BJP in Tripura and Uttar Pradesh local body polls. "Violence and hooliganism run in the blood of BJP," the TMC claimed in a tweet.
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