CM Suvendu offers to transform West Bengal from Didi era

Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday launched a blistering attack on his predecessor Mamata Banerjee, saying hers was the worst Government the State had seen — since Independence — and calling upon all the legislators to join him in building a democratically strong and performing Bengal.

Speaking at the opening session of a two-day orientation programme of the newly elected Members of the State Legislative Assembly, inaugurated by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, the Chief Minister said, referring to Banerjee, that “most unfortunately never since Independence” Bengal “fared so poorly under any Chief Minister.” Adhikari’s statement came in tandem with his Government’s decision to seize wage distribution powers in the 125-day work scheme from the hands of the Panchayat Pradhans — often considered the ‘kingmakers at the lowest level’.

The Chief Minister said that during the previous Government, main policy decisions routinely came from the party offices and were not decided on the floors of the Assembly. “I don’t want to launch political attacks or say negative things but only … place the facts before the newly elected legislators,” he said, adding his Government wanted all the MLAs from all the parties to be a part of the administrative meetings, reminding how during the previous Government no opposition party MLAs were called to administrative meetings. Giving an account of how he, as an Opposition Leader was treated during the last five years by the TMC Government he said, “I was Opposition Leader for five years and was suspended for five times … mostly during the Budget and important session when decisions were taken,” advising the first timers to even those from the Opposition join him “in the development of the State together.”

The Chief Minister stressed Bengal’s “Gateway of the East” status, often underscored by Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying it was his wish to restore the democratic institutions in the State and work towards maximising the State’s natural and industrial resources under the guidance of the Prime Minister. “We now want to make Bengal stand on its feet,” he said.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, who inaugurated the programme, called upon the new legislators to contribute towards building a new Bengal and carry forward the work of the renaissance by strengthening the democratic traditions, reminding them that the people’s representatives were the custodians of the people’s aspirations.

Stressing the growing role of technology, Birla said that the digital era had opened the doors for the legislators to access legislative debates, policy documents, and best practices from Parliament and State Legislatures. Referring to the Digital Sansad platform, he said that the Members could now benefit from a vast repository of parliamentary knowledge and comparative legislative experiences.

Adhikari also proposed to introduce the digital era in the Bengal Assembly. Adhikari’s discernible mention of the 15-year Mamata Banerjee rule, pockmarked with scams, came amidst his decision to free the 100-days work regime from corruption.

This, even as his Government decided to seize wage disbursing power from the village panchayat pradhans. Earlier the panchayat pradhans used to decide who would get the wages under the 100 days’ work scheme — now rechristened G RAM G scheme “but now the Government officials will be entrusted with that task because in most of the cases the workers’ money used to the pockets of the party men or Pradhan’s henchmen,” Bengal Minister Agnimitra Paul said, hailing the decision of the CM.

There are about 147 jobs that fall within the G RAM G (Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission — Gramin) scheme, she said, driving home the point that Adhikari said, “Government has embarked on uprooting corruption from the grassroots.” The Centre has upgraded the job project to 125 days per year with an upward revision of the wages from about Rs 230 to Rs 300 per day.