Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stuck to her known brand of politics — even at the G 20 meeting on Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion — taking on her political opponents and praising her own government for affording humane face to the cause of development by creating 12 million jobs and running “outreach programmes” beneficial to common man.
Speaking on Monday at a meeting attended by international dignitaries Banerjee said how the previous Left Front Government had left Bengal economy in a disarray and how her party supported inclusive and not divisive politics, apparently stopping short of reproving the BJP for pursuing what her Trinamool Congress calls a “politics of division and hatred.”
“We launched the Duare Sarkar (government at your doorstep) programme to ensure that people get the benefits of our development initiatives. The programme won a national award,” Banerjee said, mentioning emphatically about the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme under which her Government doles out Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 to some definite category of women.
“The women, especially, those from the backward Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities have been benefited by this direct money transfer scheme,” Banerjee said, adding how her government has been running many such welfare schemes.
Reminding that though there was a national slowdown her State Bengal had registered a healthy 4 percent growth in terms of State Domestic Product pointing out sans development of people true financial inclusion and growth could never be achieved. She referred to a multi-party democracy where “we will have to work with a united approach even as critics frowned upon the need for projecting the issue of Central-State divide on “situations as delicate and formal as this.” Reminding that though Bengal was run by her party Trinamool Congress which was ideologically different from the one that ran the Union Government, “we should adopt a united approach towards human development.”
Banerjee tended to have more unkind words for the erstwhile Government run by the Left Front which of late has been drawing impressive crowds in rural rallies.
She said the Left ruled Bengal for 34 years at a stretch leaving Bengal in shambles economically adding it was left on her Government that came to power in 2011 to put the economy back on track.
“When we came to power in the state, we witnessed a state of stagnation in every sphere including the economic affairs. The development work totally collapsed during the previous regime. But we took up there and made steady progress since then,” she said.
The CPI(M) central committee member, and former MP Sujan Chakrabarty was quick to hit back saying international platforms like a G20 summit was hardly a place to air her views on internal politics. “Such international platforms are meant for different reasons … not for raising your own political views … At least we would not have ever done that,” he said.