Mamata Banerjee said that she had offered to Amit Shah to manage the COVID-19 situation in Bengal.
Kolkata:
Raising the political terrain in her battle with the center for the management of the coronavirus crisis, West Bengal’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, revealed on Wednesday that she had told Union interior minister Amit Shah, if he didn’t think the state government was managing the crisis properly, why didn’t he try to deal with it himself. She also accused the Minister of Railways of the policy for migrant trains, of which at least 28 are expected in the state of Maharashtra in the next 24 hours.
“I said to Amit Shah, you are constantly sending central teams to Bengal. Go ahead. But if you think the government of West Bengal can’t do the job, why don’t you handle the corona crisis yourself- even? I have no problem, “Ms. Banerjee said at a press conference in Kolkata, called to address the issue of a series of trains of migrant workers arriving in West Bengal from Wednesday.
“I thank him for what he said,” she added. “He said … ‘No, no, how can we dislodge an elected government.’ He told me.”
Ms. Banerjee and Mr. Shah shot each other during the coronavirus crisis. Not only did the Union’s Minister of the Interior and the Bengal chief secretary exchange terse letters on the issue, Mr. Shah wrote to Ms. Banerjee to point out the flaws in her management of COVID-19. One of her letters reached the media before she even answered and expressed outrage.
“I would never disclose all of this normally. But given the situation, I mean to Amit Shah, be careful. You’ve locked out. But the trains and planes are running. And people?” she said.
“I mean the PM and the Minister of the Interior (HM), please see that the crown is not spreading. We already have 1 case of lakh. Some neighborhoods want it to spread for politics. Bihar is affected. Rajasthan, MP, it is spreading everywhere. ” What can I do? In this dire situation, I want the PM to intervene, “she said.
While it sounded like a call, the main focus of Ms. Banerjee’s press meeting was the huge number of migrant trains en route to Bengal. In the next 24 hours, 36 trains are expected to arrive in Bengal from Maharashtra, the most affected state.
Banerjee said the sudden deployment of migrant trains in Bengal was a political ploy to “disturb” her. What she did not say was that the BJP was trying to create trouble in Trinamool before the 2021 assembly elections.
“They try to disturb me politically but end up disturbing West Bengal. Disturb me politically but plan the migrant trains,” she said.
“What is this nonsense? We are fighting against the crown on one side, the cyclone on the other. And they send all these trains. Does the Ministry of Railways have no sense of responsibility? They were supposed to consult state governments before they send out. Why didn’t they consult us? They didn’t follow our program. They did what they wanted politically and forcefully. Don’t you see that it causes problems in Bengal? We are in the midst of a natural calamity. Should I deal with the calamity, the suffering of the people or the policy they have imposed on me? “she said.
Rival BJP in Bengal accused Ms. Banerjee of trying to evade responsibility for the migrants, saying she did not want them to return. For polling-related Bengal, this is an extremely emotional problem. District reports suggest that people on the ground are divided over the return of migrants. While many want their migrant parents to return, there is concern, among other things, that the return of migrants will cause an explosion of COVID-19 infection.
BJP said that Mamata Banerjee did not want to take responsibility for treating, testing or quarantining the migrants. And indeed at the start, the trains of migrants arriving in Bengal were rare. But in a clear change in political strategy, Banerjee said she would bring the migrants home. “If they had executed our plans correctly, they would all be back in 15 days,” she said.
But BJP tries to expose its alleged double speech. On Wednesday, he released a nine-point fact sheet against the government of Mamata Banerjee after nine years in office. Among the charges is the state government’s delay in recovering the migrants. “While UP had hundreds of trains carrying migrants in the first round, Bengal had fewer than 10,” said the charge sheet.
