With her eyes on rural polls and assuming the BJP as her main challenger, Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday launched a plethora of populist schemes to woo voters and ruthless broadside against the Narendra Modi Government at the Centre for destabilising Indian economy and dividing India along communal lines.
Speaking at a Government function at Nadia, Banerjee targeted a cross-section of the rural population not least the “refugees” whom she advised to ready their papers and lap up a windfall of 13,000 pattas (land deeds) specially meant for them.
The “patta message” for the trans-border immigrants, Banerjee increased the monthly Government largesse for the retired farmers from Rs 750 to Rs 1,000 and promised Rs 25,000 wedding gift each for the girls beyond 18 years of age. This, apart from 30 lakh cycles to be distributed among Class IX students this year and pension schemes for auto rickshaw drivers, casual workers and even domestic helps.
Even as the Chief Minister showered dollops of Government grants she lambasted the BJP Government for “robbing the poor of their rights” and “dividing the nation along communal lines.”