Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday alleged “nephew and company” had looted the funds sent by the Centre for Cyclone Amphan relief in Bengal, but chief minister Mamata Banerjee retorted that no financial assistance had arrived from Delhi.
“Modiji is sending a lot of money. Amphan had come, right... Modiji (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) had sent Rs 10,000 crore, did you get anything? Where did the money go? This nephew and company have usurped it,” Shah told a rally at Gosaba in South 24-Parganas. Gosaba is in the Sunderbans which bore the brunt of Amphan which struck the state in May last year.
Shah’s attack was apparently directed at Abhishek Banerjee, Mamata’s nephew and a Trinamul Congress MP, whom, Shah claimed, the chief minister wants to make her successor.
Debunking Shah’s allegations, Mamata said the Centre had sent no money to assist the state after the cyclone had wreaked havoc in south Bengal. “I heard (he) said in Gosaba that they had given money during Amphan. They haven’t given a single penny… (They are) a bunch of liars, a bunch of robbers, a bunch of slanders, a bunch of Duryodhans and Dushasans,” Mamata said at a poll rally in Purulia’s Raghunathpur.
Mamata’s claims were echoed by Trinamul leader and minister Firhad Hakim, who elaborated that an initial sum of Rs 1,000 crore had been despatched by the Centre. However, the state’s demand was of Rs 6,000 crore and nothing was sent thereafter.
Shah waves at the crowd in Gosaba on Tuesday Telegraph picture
BJP sources said to speak on Amphan was a strategic choice of Shah since he was addressing a Muslim-dominated, cyclone-prone electorate. Shah’s words showed how desperate he was to make inroads into South 24-Parganas district, which has around 35 per cent Muslim voters and is a stronghold of Trinamul.
“If we go by the Lok Sabha poll results, southern part of Bengal, especially South 24-Parganas, is our weakest point. This is mostly because it has a high density of Muslim population,” a state BJP office-bearer said.
“Hence, Amitji quite tactfully refrained from the narrative of appeasement and polarisation in his speech at Gosaba. He rather focussed on highlighting misappropriation of Amphan funds,” the BJP leader added.
Trinamul had won the Gosaba Assembly seat in 2016 by securing 51.24 per cent of votes. In 2019, Trinamul won the Joynagar Lok Sabha seat, of which Gosaba is one of the Assembly constituencies, with a vote share of 56.13 per cent.
“Don’t worry, the BJP (government) will send everyone, who stole every penny of the funds Modiji had sent, to jail by forming an SIT,” Shah said at the rally.
He reiterated the promises in the BJP’s manifesto, including turning the Gangasagar Mela into an international event, setting up of Sunderbans Development Board, construction of multiple bridges, allocation of Rs 6,500 crore over five years to complete development in cyclone-prone areas, and providing Rs 6,000 annual assistance to Bengal’s fishermen.
The BJP heavyweight said the Sunderbans would be declared a separate district within a year if the BJP was voted to power.
“I promise that...It is the promise of Narendra Modi...the next time I come to seek votes, all our promises will be fulfilled, trust me...Whatever promises the BJP has made across the nation, we have fulfilled them...” Shah said.
On the other hand, Mamata claimed Shah’s poll promises were full of lies and were never meant to be fulfilled.
“They are saying that they will give jobs…bring the manifesto of Assam, bring the manifesto of Tripura…they have laid off 1,000 teachers…they have privatised seven public entities,” Mamata said.
