Trinamul Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee urged the people of Purulia to defeat the BJP’s anti-Bengal brigade handsomely in the forthcoming general election for cheating them for past five years.

Trinamul Congress has fielded Shantiram Mahato against the BJP’s Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato, who was elected from the seat in 2019. Shantiram Mahato, who was the paschimanchal unnayan minister lost to the BJP candidate in 2021 by 484 votes.

Mr Banerjee said during his visit to Purulia in 2019, Narendra Modi had said ST status would be given to the people belonging to the Kurmi community. “In past 5 years nothing has been done and the BJP is talking about implementation of Uniform Civil Code, which will take away the cultural and religious rights of the tribal people,” he maintained.

He urged the people to ask Jyotirmay Singh Mahato two questions when he would visit their areas, namely why his party leader had said that Lakshmir Bhandar would be stopped within three months and whether he supports the Uniform Civil Code. If not, he should call a press conference and give his view.

Mr Banerjee said 6.63 lakh women in Purulia are getting Lakshmir Bhandar while more than 39 lakh people are getting free ration.” In 2021 Assembly election, Trinamul Congress got three out of seven seats in Purulia. But people living in the areas where Trinamul Congress did not do well are getting the benefits of the schemes taken up by the state government. We do not discriminate among the people and do not believe in divisive politics. We believe that work is our religion,” he maintained.

He alleged that during the Covid pandemic, Mr Mahato was not seen in the area. “He stays in Ranchi and did not come during the pandemic. Now, he has come to ask for votes,” he said alleging, “BJP was distributing money in Purulia Block-I. Take the money as it is your money and cast your vote in favour of Trinamul as we will stand by you,” he remarked.

He said, “When poor people were deprived of their dues, Mahato did not say a single word in the Lok Sabha.” Mr Banerjee again challenged the BJP to publish a white paper to disclose how much money it has disbursed to the state government for Awas Plus scheme from 2021. Three months have lapsed, the BJP is yet to accept my challenge,” he said.

He said the BJP, during its meetings, was silent about the development schemes it has taken. “They talk about religion and let loose one community against another but do not talk about development as they have not carried out any development in Purulia.”

“Cast your vote to Trinamul Congress for uninterrupted development in the area,” Mr Banerjee said.