West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress has announced an ambitious new campaign to corner the BJP-led government at the centre over unpaid funds. "One crore letters from the people of Bengal will be sent to the Prime Minister demanding our share of funds. I will take all these letters to the Central government in Delhi. We will then see if the Centre can stop us from entering with letters from one crore people of Bengal," Trinamool National General Secretary and party MP from Diamond Harbour announced at a public meeting in Alipurduar in West Bengal on Saturday.
Mr Banerjee announced that the party will embark on a campaign to collect signatures and submit letters to the PM and Rural Development Minister to press for the release of funds due to Bengal under the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) scheme that guarantees 100 days of rural employment. These letters will be collected by booth-level leaders of the Trinamool Congress and taken to Delhi along with beneficiaries who have not been paid their dues. Abhishek Banerjee made the announcement at a rally in Alipurduar, a region where the BJP has done well in West Bengal in both the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2021 assembly elections.
Recently, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also sat on a two-day dharna in Kolkata over pending dues to Bengal. The BJP alleges funds are being withheld as the Trinamool is mired in corruption and hasn't been able to provide accounts of expenditure, leading to funds being withheld. "Last week, you saw how Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sat on a dharna in Red Road in Kolkata to protest the delay in the payment being made by the BJP-led centre for the 100 Days' Work Scheme. People's right and their rightful money are being withheld by the BJP," Mr Banerjee said, targeting the BJP.
"From the Bengali New Year, Poila Boisakh, we will undertake this agitation in every booth. For one month we will collect signatures and after a month, with 50,000 people and one crore letters we will go to Delhi, I am announcing from this public meeting. Let's see if they can stop us. We will submit one crore letters to the PMO and the office of the rural development minister. Let them ignore it. If they have the courage, let them ignore it," he said, outlining the plan of the agitation.
The BJP termed the Trinamool's charges as misleading and untrue. BJP MP and state BJP President Sukanta Majumdar said, "Union government has given more money to West Bengal in comparison to the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government. In some cases, it's a five-fold increase and in some cases, it is a 10-fold increase. The Trinamool claiming that the Narendra Modi government is depriving the state of West Bengal is totally a false statement and incorrect statement."
Abhishek Banerjee had recently led a delegation of Trinamool MPs to meet the union minister for rural development but the delegation could not meet the minister. "Three days back, along with 25 MPs, I went to Delhi and tried to meet the Union Minister for Rural Development, Giriraj Singh. However, he didn't give us an appointment, even though he was in Delhi. That is because Giriraj Singh didn't have the guts to meet us. The Union Minister didn't have an answer to our questions and hence, evaded meeting us," Mr Banerjee said. "Bengal is the only state whose funds have been withheld by the centre. Why? This is because the BJP lost the 2021 Assembly Elections," he added.
