Haldia: Strongly advocating industrial peace, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday appealed that the industry should not be disturbed for the sake of “cheap politics”.

Inaugurating the first punched grid battery-making unit of Exide Industries in Haldia, the CM also indirectly referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a ‘dictator’, while lamenting that demonetisation had dealt a body blow to the industry in the past two months.

“You should not indulge in cheap politics and disturb industry. Industry and industrialists need to be protected. Any form of disturbance to industrial peace will not be tolerated,” Ms Banerjee said.

She said that during the Left Front rule, creating impediments in the path of industry was a norm but her government has been able to control this. “When an industry comes up, ancillary industries also come up. So both mother industry and ancillary industries  are assets. The local people should maintain good relationship and understanding with the management and the employees. There should be peace, which will automatically enhance the employment potential. Industry, particularly, manufacturing, has the capacity to generate employment,” she added.

Taking a dig at the PM for his stated objective of ushering in cashless economy, Ms Banerjee said, “Even in the US, only 40 per cent of the economy is cashless and in Germany, 60 per cent. In India  92 per cent rural areas have no banks.”   

She warned that “democratically-elected” governments should not take the people’s support for granted. “If someone after coming to power behaves like a dictator, it is not good for the country,” she said without naming Mr Modi.

She pointed out that demonetisation has led to job losses across sectors and said that  the  MSMEs and traders were among the worst affected. She called upon the people to save the country and the industry from ‘disaster.’  She said she would continue opposing the demonetisation until the situation normalises. “I have no individual agenda. I live and work for the people. In a democracy, government is for the people, of the people and by the people.”

Later, Ms Banerjee  also inaugurated the  Bengal Information Technological Park in Haldia.

Meanwhile, reacting to MP Tapas Paul’s arrest in connection with the Rose Valley chit fund scam, TMC vice-president Mukul Roy said his party would face “more such fascist” attacks in the coming days due to Ms Banerjee’s agitation against note ban.