New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a broadside against West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday, calling the violence in Murshidabad and Malda a symbol of her government’s “cruelty and indifference”. “Today, West Bengal is grappling with a series of crises. The first is the widespread violence and lawlessness that are tearing apart the fabric of society.
Incidents in Murshidabad and Malda are stark examples of the Trinamool government’s cruelty and indifference to the people’s suffering,” the Prime Minister said after after inaugurating a City Gas Distribution project in Bengal’s Alipurduar. The ruling Trinamool Congress is already under fire following a fact-finding report by a Calcutta High Court-appointed committee, which blamed local leaders, including an MLA and a councillor, for the communal riots in Murshidabad set off by anti-Waqf law protests.
The report also slammed the bengal Police for remaining inactive during the violence. The incident, which rocked the border district last month, has since become a rallying point for the BJP ahead of next year’s assembly elections in the state. BJP leaders have accused the Mamata Banerjee-led party of appeasement politics and failing to protect Hindus.
Stepping up the attack, the Prime Minister claimed that the people of Bengal have lost faith in the Trinamool Congress government. “The people here now have only the court to rely on. That’s why the whole of Bengal is saying, ‘We don’t want a ruthless government!'” PM Modi stated. He further accused the ruling party of rampant corruption and touched on the teacher recruitment scam.
“The youth, poor, and middle-class families are bearing the brunt of corruption,” he claimed. “The TMC government has ruined the future of thousands of teachers and their families. This is not just the destruction of a few thousand teachers, but the entire education system is deteriorating. Even now, they refuse to admit their mistakes, instead blaming the courts.”
The Prime Minister also charged the Mamata Banerjee government with obstructing central welfare schemes intended for underprivileged groups. “Why is the TMC so strongly against the poor, backward communities, and women? The central government has launched several welfare schemes, but the state government is not allowing their implementation in West Bengal,” he said.