Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday slammed Union Home Minister for “deliberately trying to project a dismal and gloomy picture” of her state during his two-day visit. She claimed that Bengal has been faring well in all development indices, as opposed to the comments made by Shah at his tour.

Issuing a point-by-point rebuttal to assertions made by Shah against her dispensation, during his visit to Bengal last week, Mamata cited National Crimes Record Bureau data to state that political killings and other crimes have decreased in the last ten years under the Trinamul Congress rule.

“When the home minister of the country says something, it should be backed by data, facts and figures. Bengal is ahead of other states on all development indices. But Amit Shah ji deliberately tried to depict a gloomy and dismal picture of the state. I was challenged... here is my reply,” the chief minister said at a press briefing in Calcutta.

Calcutta has been twice accredited with the ‘safest city’ in India honour, she said.

“According to NCRB data, political killings, other incidents of crime and rape cases have decreased during the TMC rule. BJP leaders, while pointing fingers at others, should also speak up against the Hathras rape-murder incident in Uttar Pradesh,” Mamata added.

Ruling out the charges levelled by the Union minister on development indices, senior TMC leader Saugata Roy earlier mentioned the state's impressive performance in GDP, industrial output, per capita income, construction of rural roads among others.