Chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Monday that she would launch a sit-in demonstration on February 2 if the Narendra Modi government at the Centre didn’t release funds for various social welfare schemes to Bengal.
“I have met the Prime Minister thrice or four times. Still, funds have not been released. I gave seven days and will wait till February 1. If the funds are not provided to us by then, I will launch a dharna on February 2 in protest…. there will be similar protests in booths (at the booth level) across the state,” she said at a government function near Uttarkanya, the state’s branch secretariat on the outskirts of Siliguri.
“We won't sit and watch them live in their palaces while blocking money allocated for homes of the poor,” she added.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Mamata’s announcement hints at her intent to exert pressure on the BJP and strengthen Trinamul's narrative that the Centre is depriving Bengal of its dues.
“While the BJP is playing the Ram temple card to polarise votes and underscoring charges of corruption labelled against Trinamul leaders and ministers in Bengal, the ruling party in the state has taken the task to counter the BJP on the issue of halt in central funds. It is an effective strategy as millions in rural areas can relate to the schemes,” said an observer.
Both in Siliguri and Cooch Behar, Mamata slammed the Centre for not providing funds for the 100-days-work scheme and the housing scheme. She also said that the state gave jobs to some MGNREGS beneficiaries, despite the Centre halting funds.
She announced that she would meet beneficiaries of both schemes soon.
“Around Rs 7,000 crore are yet to be paid to people who worked under the MGNREGS. They haven’t received their wages. Around 11 lakh applications were sent for the housing scheme but no funds came from the Centre. Soon, I will hold a separate meeting with these people for a better understanding of their problem and discuss what the state can do for them,” said Mamata.
Responding to Mamata's protest threat, BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari said: "She has given the call to sit on dharna from February 2. First, board exams like Madhyamik will start on February 2 and you (Mamata) have no right to organise such political events during exams. I will request her to refrain from such a movement for the sake of board examinees. If she goes ahead with her announced political event, she will have to face counter events, too. People are ready to ask her why central schemes like Ayushman Bharat have not been implemented in Bengal."
Tea land rights
Mamata also distributed land rights to over 12,000 tea workers, both currently working and the retired, who stay in the Dooars belt of Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri districts.
“We have provided rights of land on which they have been living for many years. Today, land rights were given to 12,077 tea workers and so far, we have given rights to 22,579 workers and others will get the land rights in due course. They will also receive Rs 1.20 lakhs to build a house on the land,” Mamata said.
In the hills, the process will start after the ongoing land survey is completed, the chief minister said.
The state government, she added, had also taken up the task to identify unutilised land in the tea gardens.
“So far, we have identified and taken back such land from 33 tea gardens in these two districts. It is a historical step and tea workers can now open homestays and shops (for alternative earnings),” said Mamata.
Like in Cooch Behar, where the chief minister reached out to Rajbanshis, she made a similar effort here to reach out to the tea population. In north Bengal, their support largely matters in the Lok Sabha seats of Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar and Darjeeling.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, similar to the Rajbanshis, most of the tea workers and their families in north Bengal had backed the BJP. This time, Trinamul wants their support in the 2024 general election. Meeting the longstanding demand of conferring land rights to tea workers apart, a slew of welfare schemes have been extended to residents of tea gardens. Since it assumed power in 2011, The Trinamul-led state government has also regularly revised the daily wage rate of workers in the industry, which stands at Rs 250 now.
“The state’s decision to offer land rights to tea workers would surely help Trinamul. It would be interesting to see what the BJP does to retain its support base in the brew belt,” said an observer.
