TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee Wednesday accused the BJP government at the Centre of using religious sentiments, like the Ayodhya Ram Mandir to hide its failures to provide good governance in the last nine years.
He also blamed the Centre for trying to starve the state government of funds by withholding the MGNREGA funds to it.
"BJP wants to indulge in the politics of religion to hide its failures. Will politics over religion help it to satisfy the hunger of the poor people, who are reeling under the rise in the prices of essentials and cooking gas? The answer is no.
"Politics over religion and Ram Mandir is a ploy by BJP to divert attention from the failures of its government at the Centre,” he said addressing a rally at Onda in Bankura.
“The next panchayat and Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal will be held on the plank of the rights of the people of the state. BJP is trying to snatch away their rights. It has stopped releasing the MGNREGA funds for the state," he said.
The comments by Banerjee, who is considered the number two in TMC, came in the backdrop of clashes in Hooghly and Howrah districts over the Ram Navami processions. The TMC has accused BJP of fuelling communal tensions in the state.
TMC workers will hit the streets of Delhi if the Centre does not release the money that is due to the state, he said upping the ante against the BJP government at the Centre ahead of the panchayat election in Bengal.
The party will also send to Prime Minister Narendra Modi one crore signed letters by daily wagers who could not get employment under MGNREGA, the TMC leader said.
“By denying MGNREGA funds to Bengal, it (BJP) is trying to punish the people of the state for their defeat in the last assembly poll in 2021. It is yet to accept the defeat. We will not bow down before it,” Banerjee said.
He said the people of Bankura "punished" TMC for mistakes committed by the party by voting in favour of BJP. “Both in 2019 and 2021 the people of Bankura voted for BJP. Maybe we committed a few mistakes, but we have rectified those," he said.
Urging the people of the backward district to vote for TMC, Banerjee said "When the party's workers were on the streets in Bankura during the COVID pandemic, the BJP MPs or MLAs from the district were not seen. We did not differentiate because we lost the election here. But if this time too the people of Bankura stay turn away their faces, then TMC will not fight for their rights”.
The rural polls in Bengal are due in May this year. Control over the rural bodies is a must for political parties for an upper hand on rivals in the 2024 Lok Sabha election as the majority of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state have rural and semi-urban areas administered by panchayats.
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