There is no different Bengal, there is only one Bengal called West Bengal, said Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Abhishek Banerjee in Jalpaiguri on Sunday, responding to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders’ demand for a “separate Bengal” for the past six months.
Moreover, Ananta Maharaj Rajbongshi, who has a major influence over Rajbongshi voters in North Bengal, said recently that the Home Ministry had told him that “there will be a division”.
According to experts, the comment in Jalpaiguri assumes political significance. The TMC is putting heavy emphasis on North Bengal after their bad performance in the Bengal elections in 2021 and is now targetting tea garden workers.
In the past three months, this is Banerjee’s second visit to North Bengal, as he had stated the last time that he would visit every two months. The area is a tea belt, so Banerjee addressed them after his party’s summits with trade union wings to check their issues.
THE ISSUES
Sources in the tea garden area say the main problem is they don’t get provident fund (PF) and gratuity because there were errors while making the list long ago. Now, all PF accounts are linked to Aadhaar cards and mostly the names on the card and garden records are not the same. The number of Aadhaar offices are almost negligible. The workers, a majority of them adivasis, want the issue to be resolved. People on ground also say that this is the first time that leader has come to hear their problems.
BANERJEE SPEAKS
At his meeting, Banerjee said that the PF issue comes under the purview of the Central Government and if the Central authorities don’t look into the matter, a movement will be organised.
He said, “If by December 31, the PF-gratuity problem of tea garden workers is not resolved, we will gherao BJP MP-MLA’s houses in Bengal. We will go to Delhi with 3.5 lakh workers, then we will see what happens.”
Party insiders said the movement could give a boost to the TMC and also solve the problem. “We will make sure that all tea garden workers have ID cards within three months. I would like to request the Labour Minister to do it.”
He also declared tea garden workers’ children will get crèches. “In the coming six months, 50 crèches will be built. I have spoken to CM Mamata Banerjee. She has already directed the Labour Minister to do it.”
He tried to touch upon issues related to tea gardens and criticised the BJP MPs of North Bengal. He said the BJP announced investment worth crores in tea gardens, but nothing happened.
Reacting to the claims, BJP MLA Shankar Ghosh said, “Abhishek Banerjee has a lot of benami property, he gives speeches after the interrogation of ED, CBI. He is a joker and no one will take him seriously. These stunts will have no impact on ground.”
Meanwhile, BJP’s Suvendu Adhikary said, “It’s the responsibility of the state government to give PF. We will gherao Uttarkanya for tea garden workers’ PF demand.”
Both the parties are now trying hard to woo North Bengal, with an eye on panchayat polls. Only time will tell who will score in tea gardens.
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