The Trinamool Congress on Wednesday sustained pressure on the Narendra Modi regime over blocked MGNREGA funds and dismissed Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s claims in Parliament on Tuesday that states with non-NDA governments were not being deprived of funds by the Centre.
Trinamool reiterated Abhishek Banerjee’s demand for a white paper on funds released to the state under MGNREGA and the PM Awas Yojana since the BJP’s defeat in Bengal in the Assembly elections of 2021. According to the Centre’s figures, it owes Bengal ₹5,553 crore under MGNREGA alone.
“Our national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had raised demands for a white paper on the matter. The Centre and Nirmala Sitharaman should not divert attention through a jugglery of words. If they have the guts, they should furnish a white paper detailing how much funds were released to Bengal under MGNREGA in the past three years,” Trinamool leader Kunal Ghosh told a news conference, alongside Bengal finance minister Chandrima Bhattacharya.
Ghosh pointed out that on March 14, Abhishek had issued an open challenge to the BJP, asking its leadership to produce a white paper on the funds released to Bengal under the two key central schemes since the 2021 results.
“It has been 139 days, over 3,340 hours since the challenge, but the BJP is yet to respond. Instead, they chose to spread lies on the floor of the Parliament and continue their economic blockade of Bengal,” he added.
Trinamool also shared data cited in the Union finance ministry’s economic survey, saying no funds were released for Bengal under MGNREGA for 2023-24.
“Caught in a web of their own lies! @FinMinIndia documents show no MGNREGA funds were released for Bengal for FY2024-25 despite FM @nsitharaman’s false claims,” wrote Bengal education minister Bratya Basu on X.
“This is how PM @narendramodi’s regime treats Bengal: with contempt and disdain! #ReleaseWhitePaper,” he added.
Bhattacharya said NDA-ruled states continued receiving MGNREGA funds
despite allegedly large-scale corruption in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.