Coming down heavily on the BJP, Chief Minister and Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said the saffron party is making an orchestrated effort to brainwash people. She was talking to journalists at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport on her way to Delhi this afternoon.

She was accompanied by Abhishek Banerjee, TMC MP and national general secretary. Miss Banerjee is likely to meet the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 20 December with a demand to clear the state’s longstanding dues withheld by the Centre. Miss Banerjee said: “The BJP-led Centre has stopped all the stipulated funds that are meant for Bengal. They have stopped the funds for constructing rural roads. Also, the funds meant to construct houses under Banglar Bari have not been released.

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The funds for the health centres have also been stopped as we have refused to paint the health centres in saffron. What is this? Bengal is the only state to which the BJP has stopped releasing funds,” she said, and alleged that it is the sole purpose of the BJP to defame Bengal. She said: “They (BJP) will decide what food we should take and what attire we should wear. They have made an orchestrated effort to brainwash people.

They have taken away the independence of people and changed the syllabus.” She went on to charge that the BJP is trying to gag freedom of speech. “Derek (TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien) was suspended as he had raised his voice against the BJP. This cannot go on forever. I will raise my voice against the oppressive measures of the BJP,” she said.

She also maintained that West Bengal is being deliberately linked to the recent breach of security at the Parliament House to divert attention from the acute security lapses there. Miss Banerjee noted that Lalit Jha, the prime accused in the case, had no intimate connections with West Bengal. “He had connections with Bihar and Jharkhand, but not with West Bengal. So unnecessarily the name of our state is being dragged in the matter. Even the Union Home Ministry admitted lapses in the security system in the matter.

All we want is a thorough probe by an independent agency,” she said. Miss Banerjee will meet the party’s MPs tomorrow in Delhi. With the Parliament session on, she is likely to instruct her party MPs to highlight the failures of the Centre is each and every sphere. She will participate in the meeting of INDIA alliance and is likely to meet Mr Modi on 20 December.

Mr Abhishek Banerjee is likely to accompany her during the meeting with Mr Modi. Earlier, Miss Banerjee had written to Mr Modi requesting him to clear the state’s dues. But he looked the other way. Party’s insiders said Miss Banerjee wants Mr Banerjee to be present at the meeting with Mr Modi as he had led the MPs and the aggrieved Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme job card holders who had gone to press their demand in Delhi.

The Union minister of state for rural development and panchayati raj, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti did not meet the Trinamul delegation led by Mr Banerjee and the MPs and the aggrieved job card holders were forcibly removed from her office. Earlier, Mr Banerjee had led a team of MPs to meet the Union minister for rural development and panchayati raj, Giriraj Singh, but Mr Singh did not meet them.