TMC workers stage protest at Rajghat seeking scheme-related funds from Centre

TMC General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee along with party leaders during their protest against BJP-led Central government over alleged apathy towards Bengal, in New Delhi, Monday, Oct. 2, 2023. PTI Photo

Trinamool Congress General Secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee on Monday alleged that the attempts were made by the Central Government to stop his party's protest against the Centre demanding funds for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and other schemes.

"As I said, a lot of attempts were made and a conspiracy was hatched to stop our two-day event in Delhi on 2-3 October. First, permission was not granted. Now we are not being allowed to speak," Abhishek Banerjee said while addressing a gathering here in the national capital.

The TMC on Monday staged a protest at Rajghat here to demand funds from the central government for the MGNREGA and other schemes.

Banerjee arrived at Rajghat and paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on his birth anniversary.

He later along with the party leaders sat in protest.

The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress had decided to hold a protest in the national capital against the alleged denial of MGNREGA and other housing scheme funds by the central government to the state.

Abhishek Banerjee, who joined the protest in the national capital on Monday has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the school teachers' recruitment case.

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He has claimed that he would not be honouring the ED notice on this count. "Stop me if you can," he wrote on X immediately after receiving the ED notice.

The Trinamool Congress leaders sat on protest at Rajghat with placards reading "Release Bengal Funds Now", "Bengal deprived 1 lakh 15 thousand crore families, Rs 15,000 crore owed".

On Tuesday too, the TMC workers are likely to hold a protest against the central government for what it claimed was the centre's failure in disbursement of funds to the state for MGNREGA, AWAS Yojana and other central government schemes.

Earlier, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Susmita Dev hit out at the central government over the refusal to provide special trains to MGNREGA job cardholders from West Bengal to reach Delhi and said that they were ready for the fight.

However, West Bengal Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari said, "...Yes, it's a 100 per cent Central Government sponsored scheme (MNREGA). It's a Constitutional project. 1.30 crore fake job cards have already been found by the concerned authority due to the link between Aadhaar and Job Cards. It is a big scam after independence..."

Meanwhile, Union Minister Giriraj Singh said that the Central Government has never stopped funds for West Bengal in any scheme.

"...They (West Bengal government) started looting the poor in the name of MGNREGA. In MGNREGA till March 2022, we did the work of giving Rs 54150 crore while in UPA only Rs 14000 crore was received... We never stopped funds in any scheme...," the union minister said.

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