Accusing Narendra Modi of taking away Tata-Airbus' C-295 aircraft and several other important projects and government offices out of Maharashtra, the Opposition Congress said on Monday that the people of the state would give a befitting reply to the “non-biological Prime Minister” and his colleagues  in the Assembly polls “for betraying the state”.

The Congress’ attack against the Prime Minister came on a day when Modi, accompanied by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, inaugurated the Tata-Airbus C-295 aircraft manufacturing facility in Vadodara.

“It (Tata-Airbus C-2950 was the same project that was supposed to be set up in Nagpur, but it was shifted to Gujarat on the eve of Gujarat assembly elections in 2022. Due to which Maharashtra was deprived of this important investment. One can certainly imagine the politics behind the scenes for that,” AICC General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh said.

In the first combative state that came from the Congress a day ahead of the close of nominations for the State Assembly polls, Jairam Ramesh charged that under the direction of the “non-biological Prime Minister” the Centre and the BJP-led MahaYuti government had completed surrendered Maharashtra’s interests in getting new projects or getting support from the Centre in that regard”.

Citing other instances of how Modi “betrayed” Maharashtra, Jairam Ramesh took to micro-blogging site “X” to recall how then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh of the Congress in 2006 tried to set up the International Financial Services Center (IFSC) in Mumbai, but the current Prime Minister moved the project to his home state of Gujarat.

“The IFSC has now been set up only in GIFT City, Gujarat. In 2006 Dr. Manmohan Singh had tried to set it up in Mumbai and reserved space for the IFSC in the Bandra Kurla Complex. But those efforts were thwarted and a potential 2 lakh jobs in Mumbai were lost,” Congress’ Rajya Sabha member said. 

 “Mumbai and Surat have worked together to develop India’s diamond industry for decades, with Surat handling cutting and polishing, and Mumbai handling trading and export. However, a new Bharat Diamond Bourse was built in Surat. It is another matter that this move has failed entirely, with many diamond merchants moving their operations back to Mumbai,” Jairam Ramesh said.

“Apart from the Tata-Airbus manufacturing project, the (now failed) Vedanta-Foxconn chip project was also shifted from Maharashtra to Gujarat,” he said.

“ Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) remains a major hub for textiles and the textile commissionerate office, which has been in Mumbai for 80 years and more, was suddenly shifted to Delhi last year for no apparent reason,” Jairam Ramesh said.

“ Dattopant Thengdi National Labor Education and Development Board was also shifted from Nagpur to Delhi in 2021,” he said.

Quoting an instance of how the BJP-led government at the Centre played politics in matters relating to Maharashtra, Jairam Ramesh said: “ The demand for the status of a classical language to Marathi was pending with the government for ten years and was met only on the eve of the assembly elections due to persistent pressure from the Indian National Congress and civil unions in Maharashtra”

“(We) @INCIndia and Mahavikas Aghadi believe in equal development of the entire country without prejudice. New infrastructure projects, special investment zones and modern industries should benefit not just the state but all Indians,” he said.

“During Gujarat's period of industrialization in the 1970s and 80s, projects such as Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited (GSFC), Gujarat Refinery and IPCL were not poached from other states but were newly established,” he said.

“The people of Maharashtra will give a befitting reply to the non-biological Prime Minister and his colleagues for betraying the state,” Jairam Ramesh said.