Shocked with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s “gloomy” picture of Bengal where he said that “it was passing through an overall barren time under the Left regime,” chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Sunday hit back at Dr Singh, saying that his “assessment was quite surprising.” He also wondered how did he (Dr Singh) suddenly discover that the state government has become “defunct”.
“It was rather surprising that it came from Dr Singh who had always been eager to know about the progress in land distribution, new industries in the state and the proposed investment in the state by Japan. This (Dr Singh’s statement) was not in sync with his usual practice of encouraging our efforts,” the chief minister said. The Prime Minister had stated: “They (the Left) do not have a policy for development, they do not have a dream to offer to the youth. After 34 years of the Left Front’s rule, the time for change has come.” Retorting Dr Singh’s comment, Mr Bhattacharjee said: “The Prime Minister had never questioned about my government’s alleged non-performance during several of his meets in Delhi.”
Another pot-shot of the Prime Minster that in states like Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and even Gujarat, more Muslims have government jobs than in West Bengal also prompted the chief minister to react strongly. He said that he was more than surprised by Dr Singh’s comment that Muslims in Bengal were worse off than those in Gujarat. “I did not expect such comments from Dr Singh. Muslims in our state live in peace and harmony; whereas those in Gujarat live in a state of uncertainty. This apart, Muslims in our state get scholarships and business loans. “No state gives the kind of loans that the Muslims get from the West Bengal Minority Development Corporation,” the CM said.