Launching a scathing against the ruling Left Front, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday said there has been little development in the past 34 years. “The Left Front government is ruling the state for 34 years and it projects itself as the messiah of the poor and the marginalised but it had failed to serve even their cause. Where is that development, the progress and prosperity which the communists had been persistently promising?” she asked.
Mrs Gandhi kickstarted her election campaign in North Bengal with a rally at Jalpaiguri. She addressed two more rallies in Malda (at Ratua and English Bazar). In an apparent bid to connect with the people of the state, she began her speech with new year greetings: “Shubo Nobo Barsho.”
The first phase of the six-phase election will be held on April 18 in 54 Assembly constituencies in six districts of North Bengal. Saturday is the last day of campaigning in the region. Mrs Gandhi arrived at the venue of Jalpaiguri rally in a helicopter at around 11.25 am. She did not speak for more than 10 minutes but in her brief speech, she focused on pointing out Left Front government’s failure and highlighting the Congress-led UPA government’s developmental and welfare projects for the poor and the marginalised. She said that progress and prosperity which the Left Front government had been persistently promising was nowhere to be seen. “In these 34 years, the Left Front has left West Bengal in a total mess. The condition here is so appalling that some districts are among the most impoverished and most backward. Who is responsible for this situation?” she asked.
She claimed that the poor farmers and labourers had not been given their rights. “The condition of the villages is pitiable. Some development in one city does not mean that entire Bengal has progressed. You must ask every Left Front leader why the dreams they so have been selling for so many years have not yet come true,” she added.
Repeating Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s oft-repeated charge, Mrs Gandhi also lambasted the ruling CPI(M) for only looking after the interests of its own supporters. “In a democracy, it is the responsibility of a government to work for every section of society and just for the people of its own party,” she added.
She flayed the state government for not even properly using the huge Central funds. “The Centre has given the state huge funds. Ask the Left Front government how and where did it spend the Central funds. Had it spent the funds judiciously, the picture of the state would have been different,” she added.