Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday criticized the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress Government in West Bengal without naming her, and said the current regime was no different to the previous Left Front Government that was voted out from the state.
"Communism has failed everywhere, it has failed in Russia, changed in China and even you have removed them out of power which is a good thing. It was believed that a new government formed by the TMC would work for the betterment of the poor and build proper roads, give education in Bengal. However, it did not do anything different from the Communists," Gandhi said.
"If you talk about education, we have focused a lot on it everywhere and we have allocated the largest amount of funds to the Bengal government in education, health and constructing roads than all other states. But, I am a witness to the kind of pot-holed roads which are provided by the Bengal government. It took me 15 to 20 minutes to reach here which ideally should just take two minutes. It is not me but all of you who use these roads and face loads of problem while traveling," he added.
The Congress vice president lashed out at the TMC government for not fully utilising central funds for development projects in the state.
"The unfortunate part is that the Centre sends crores of funds from Delhi to the Bengal Government, but it doesn't reach you at the end, and this is your own hard earned money, and not that of any minister or that of an MLA. We want to see a day when your hard earned money reaches to you and you get to travel on proper roads and this is what we (Congress) are trying to do," Rahul said at his Jalpaiguri rally.
He also rued the fact that given that Bengal had produced luminaries like Rabindranath Tagore , Subhash Chandra Bose and Amartya Sen it was unfortunate that the state was not realizing its full potential and hence not progressing.
"Bengal has given a lot to India, it has given Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Amartya Sen . It is a sad part the way Bengal should have moved forward is not actually happening the same way as thought and hence the condition of the workers of the tea gardens remains unaltered," Rahul said.
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Rahul gave the hope that it was only electing Congress from Bengal that the rights of the people could be addressed, and therefore, asked them to vote for the Congress.
The only party which can give you proper change is only a Congress led government and hence I request you to vote for us. It is through Congress only that your voices could be heard in Delhi which will talk about giving you proper electricity, water and fight for the workers right.