Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused West Bengal's ruling party, the Trinamul Congress, of possessing “mastery” in making “every scheme into a scam,” duplicity and extortion in the Central government’s public welfare projects.
Mr Modi also synonymized the TMC with “Tu, Mein aur Corruption hi Corruption” for patronising graft, dynasticism and betrayal. He repeated his anguish over the Sandeshkhali incidents and called on the BJP West Bengal leaders to target winning all 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
The PM, who launched multiple national projects worth Rs 15,000 crores and led a roadshow at Krishnanagar in Nadia district, launched a virulent attack on the TMC a day after chief minister Mamata Banerjee met him and again demanded the release of pending Central funds.
On the second and final day of his state visit, Mr Modi said, “The TMC always pastes its stickers on the Central government schemes to claim them as its own and reap the benefits. The citizens of the country will be shocked to know that the TMC government turns each and every scheme into a scam. The TMC has a mastery of changing schemes into scams. This has become the identity of Bengal. This is how the TMC defamed Bengal.”
Mr Mr Modi asserted: “The TMC government's functioning has left Bengal hopeless. The people of Bengal have repeatedly given huge mandates to the TMC with a lot of expectations. But the TMC has become synonymous with atrocities and betrayal. For them, corruption and parivarvaad, instead of the prosperity of Bengal, are the priorities. TMC means atrocities, corruption, parivarvaad and betrayal. It wants to keep people poor for its political gains. Thus, the definition of TMC has changed. It now stands for Tu, Mein aur Corruption hi Corruption.”
Backing his charges, Mr Modi pointed out that the TMC "tolabaj" (extortionists) control the Central schemes in the state and get their share. He alleged that 25-lakh job cards under the 100-day work scheme MGNREGA were found fake in the state.
“Cards were made in the names of people who do not exist. The money that was supposed to go to the poor labourers in villages was looted by the tolabaj of the TMC,” Mr Modi added.
On the law and order situation in the state, Mr Modi said, “Sisters of Sandeshkhali cried for justice. But the TMC government did not pay heed to them. Here, the criminal, not the police, decides when he will surrender or get arrested. The state government never wanted the arrest of the Sandeshkhali mastermind. But the women's power in Bengal stood up as goddess Durga and forced the state government to bow down.”
The Prime Minister later held a meeting with state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar and state Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari for around 15 minutes at the rally venue.
The TMC hit back at Mr Modi over his corruption allegations and posted on X-handle a photo of Mr Adhikari being caught earlier accepting cash in the Narada sting operation. The post read: “This is PM @narendramodi Ki Guarantee: Bhrashtachariyon ka Saath, Desh ka Sarvanash.”
Countering Mr Modi’s claims on the fake MGNREGA job cards, state industry minister Shashi Panja said, “Mr Modi spread lies unfortunately. The highest number of fake job cards were found in Uttar Pradesh, where funds were not stopped by the Centre because the BJP is in power there. But funds did not come here, leaving 59 job card holders deprived."
