West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that she had waited till today about the Centre’s response on the pending funds to the State, and her next step would be ‘March to Delhi’.
Referring to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s famous call “Chalo Delhi”, the Trinamool Congress chairperson said that on the 75th year of Independence, the people of the State would do “aur ek dafa Delhi chalo (another march to Delhi)”.
The Chief Minister had called a two-day dharna at the statue of B.R. Ambedkar in Kolkata, seeking the release of Central funds under MGNREGA (pending since December 2021), the construction of rural roads, and other schemes.
“If I go to Delhi, I will take people from other States also and if you don’t allow, we will sit wherever you stop us. Do not teach us how to organise a movement. We [Trinamool Congress] are born out of the people’s movement,” she said.
She compared the government at the Centre to Muhammad Bin Tuglaq’s rule and added that while there was an embargo on the release of MGNREGA funds, the BJP Government was pumping thousands of crores for the Central Vista project.
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Ms. Banerjee said that she had repeatedly raised the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. The Chief Minister said an economic blockade to West Bengal would be met by a similar blockade from West Bengal.
The Chief Minister for the second consecutive day, called for the unity of Opposition parties to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). “All of us have to unite, fight against the BJP and defeat it. If needed, we will march to Delhi to protest against the Centre’s attempts to destroy the country’s federal structure,” she said.
The West Bengal Chief Minister said that not only political parties in the Opposition but also members of civil society and all walks of life, should join forces against the BJP Government at the Centre.
Referring to the often-used phrase “government of the people, by the people, for the people”, Ms. Banerjee at the conclusion of her two-day protest dharna said that the BJP Government at the Centre “was a government of the agencies [Central investigating agencies] by the agencies and for the agencies”.
The Chief Minister spent about 30 hours at the dharna site, a stage on Kolkata’s Red Road where she was seen in different moods including singing patriotic songs. She was joined by senior leaders of her party including party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, senior Trinamool Congress MPs Kalyan Banerjee, Sudip Banerjee and Saugata Roy.
‘Protesting employees got jobs on recommendation’
She also hit out at a section of State Government employees, who have been demanding Dearness Allowance (DA) parity with that of the Centre. “The ones who got everything from West Bengal, are now protesting against the State Government. I have asked officials to look for their recruitment files. They are taking public money and are busy in agitating,” Ms. Banerjee said.
The Chief Minister alleged that those protesting had got jobs on recommendations during the Left regime.
Meanwhile, protesting employees during the day, held rallies from Howrah and Sealdah railway stations, bringing traffic to a standstill. Leaders from the Opposition parties including Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders Sujan Chakraborti and Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya participated in the meeting called by protesting employees.
The State Government employees who were protesting only 500 metres from where the Chief Minister was staging her demonstration, condemned her remarks and demanded an apology.
