Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday visited parts of Burdwan village chatting with locals over cups of tea, listening to their daily woes and delivering instant promises to solve them.
After she personally prepared tea for inmates of a house in the beach town of Digha, Banerjee visited Alisa Baikunthapur village in East Burdwan and spoke to the local tribal population. Most of them complained about poor road conditions and lack of dwelling facilities.
“It was a nice experience. I spoke to the people shared tea with them and heard their problems,” Banerjee said while coming out of the village with senior cabinet colleague and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim in her tow.
“There a fare number of scheduled caste and tribal families living here. They were quite forthcoming in sharing their issues. They told me about the poor condition of the road and bad dwelling conditions which I have already told the DM to take note of,” Banerjee said adding she had asked the DM to get the road constructed and construct dwellings for those who do not have their own houses.
“Some people were also telling about the irregular receipt of widow pensions. I have assured them that the things will be taken care of.”
Incidentally, the Bengal BJP leadership has scoffed at Banerjee for imitating Prime Minister Modi in order to earn popularity among the masses by preparing and sharing tea with them.
“Look at the irony of fate. A person rose from a chaiwalla to a Prime Minister while another person is going the other way round,” a Bengal BJP leader said ironically ignorant of the fact that his own State party president Dilip Ghosh on Monday roamed the sea beaches of Digha sharing tea with the locals and the tourists in a bid to expand his party’s mass base.
“There is nothing wrong in mixing with the people. It is only when you lose contact with the people you face political alienation,” Ghosh said justifying his tea campaign in Digha.
The TMC supremo’s outreach programme has intensified after her party’s colossal loss at the hustings whence the Trinamool won 22 — down from 34 in 2014 — out of 42 parliamentary seats and a fast emerging BJP bagged 18, leaving two for the Congress.