The Left parties and Congress on Thursday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi address at the annual plenary session of Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) was targeted at the forthcoming Assembly polls in the State.
During his address, the Prime Minister pitched Kolkata as the ‘Leader of the East’ and added that the jute industry can walk on its path of revival and can use the ban on single use plastic of the Centre. The address came two days after Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed a virtual rally for BJP workers in the State.
Time for bold decisions and investments, reiterates Modi
Ignored for years
Leader of Opposition and Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the Centre has done little in the past six years for the jute industry that has been struggling.
“The jute industry has been struggling for years. This is an old industry set up by the British but the Centre has done nothing for its revival. Suddenly before the election, the Prime Minister has started talking about the jute industry like a seasonal bird,” Mr Chowdhury said.
State Congress president Somen Mitra said with every passing day, more jute mills are closing down and the farmers are shying away from cultivation of jute. “Unless the closed jute mills are opened, the Prime Minister’s words will remain as hollow election slogans,” Mr. Mitra said.
Centre indifferent
Leader of Left Legislature Party in State Assembly Sujan Chakraborty said the issue of increasing the demand for jute bags was being raised by West Bengal for decades under the Left Front governments and the Centre has remained indifferent to it.
“Did he [Prime Minister] suddenly remember the necessity of jute bags just before the elections? Unless the Centre stops the use of synthetic and plastic bags the issue of increasing demand of jute bags does not hold,” Mr Chakraborty said.
There are about 70 jute mills in the country, of which about 60 are in West Bengal along both the banks of river Hooghly. The labour intensive industry employs about two lakh workers in the State alone.
