Mamata Banerjee 'speed breaker' in path of development: PM in Bengal

Kolkata: Launching a torpedo on Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee in her home turf, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called the West Bengal chief minister a "speed breaker" on his development projects. He observed that Ms Banerjee's "boat has started capsizing."

Addressing his Lok Sabha Election campaign rally in Siliguri Mr Modi asserted that he could implement his welfare schemes at high speed across the country successfully. He however lamented that he could not maintain the tempo in ensuring the same in West Bengal.

"Do you know the reason behind it? Yes, you have got it right. There is a speedbreaker in West Bengal. The people here know this speed breaker as 'Didi'. This 'Didi' is the speed breaker on the development works for you. Didi is not bothered about the poor. She is more occupied in playing politics over poverty. So how can she work to eradicate poverty? If poverty ceases to exists, Didi's politics will come to an end also," Mr Modi told the rally at a railway ground near New Jalpaiguri railway station.

To justify his charges the PM then gave the examples of Aayushman Bharat, a central medical insurance scheme, and other central projects which Ms Banerjee has not allowed in the state. "When the poor suffer from ailments or diseases, they mostly worry about how bear the medical expenses. But what has this Speed breaker Didi done for them? A brake has been applied on a welfare scheme like Ayushman Bharat. The list of activities of Speed breaker Didi is very long. She has also put a brake on the activities of 70 lakhs of farmers and their families. By dint of PM Kisan Yojana, money is directly transferred to their bank accounts. But Didi is Didi. She is the speed breaker after all and so she did the same on this scheme too" he noted.

Lashing out at other opposition parties the PM alleged, "The same situation prevails upon the Congress and the Communists also. They need poverty to continue. Their politics lies in keeping the poor people in same fate. That's why they have applied brakes on the development works for the poor. They have hatched a conspiracy to ensure the poor would not be uplifted."

Praising the huge turn outs at the rally Mr Modi added, "The presence of this huge crowd clearly tells one thing: Didi's boat has started capsizing."

Mr Modi also referred the multi crore chit fund scams which rocked the state few years ago. He accused Ms Banerjee's cabinet ministers, party MLAs and aides of looting the people's deposits. "Didi undertook the job of devastating the poor who deposited their small savings with the chit fund firms," he complained.

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