Chanting the aam admi mantra, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday gave a call to put an end of the CPI(M) “misrule” over the last three decades in Bengal. “The elections are ahead and all the people of Bengal know that this time CPI(M) is not going to form the government. This time, Congress and Trinamul
Congress will come to power. We will try to ensure that in future, Bengal progresses too. We will make sure Bengal develops and you get education, health services and most importantly, your youth get employment too,” Mr Gandhi said.
He added that there are two ways in Bengal for youth to get employed: leave the state or the country, or become a member of the CPI(M). “If you are a member of the CPI(M), your income is assured. They (CPM) first look after their organisation and their cadres. The people of Bengal come later,” said Mr Gandhi.
Taking pot-shot at the Left regime, Mr Gandhi said that the state which had once set an example before others, has suffered a sorry decline. “Whether in industry, agriculture, employment or education, Bengal’s performance is “pathetic” compared to states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Delhi. The state is lagging far behind,” Mr Gandhi said.
Addressing a string of election rallies across North Bengal where elections are scheduled for April 18, he accused the CPI(M) for “grabbing” Central funds meant for the upliftment of the poor and the down-trodden.” He alleged that the UPA government had allocated crores of rupees to the state under different sch-emes, including NREGA, but there was no proper utilisation of the funds. In an obvious reference to the Left’s allegation that the UPA-2 has not been taking any measure for the food security, Mr Gandhi said that the government would shortly introduce a food security bill in Parliament to see that noone in the country suffers from poverty and hunger. Mr Gandhi also claimed that the UPA government has waived off `70,000 crore worth of debts of farmers and made available land to tribals through the Tribal Act.