West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress on Saturday said that there was lot of evidence in public domain to suggest that the State is being targeted by the Centre.
The party came up with a strong rebuttal to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s letter West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee which stated that the State government was not allowing special trains for migrant workers stating that eight trains with 30,000 migrant workers will arrive in the State in next few days.
Also read: Migrant workers from Bengal desperate, seek more trains to return
Party national spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Derek O Brien, along with Lok Sabha MP Kakuli Ghosh Dastidar and State’s Minister Rajib Banerjee held an online press conference for over 90 minutes refuting the allegations made by the Union Home Minister in the letter.
Mr O‘ Brien said that the Union Home Minister has targeted the State "without facts and with a bunch of lies". “ There is too much evidence in the public domain to suggest that West Bengal is being targeted. It was targeted through bureaucrats and now the Home Minister has woken up from slumber and targeted the State without any facts,” he said.
The TMC leadership claimed eight more trains are in the process of being approved which will bring migrant workers from other states. The party also circulated a document with the details of the “ upcoming special trains” from where the trains will departs and where they will arrive. While State’s Minister Rajib Banerjee said that these communications from the Centre are an attempt to fish in troubled waters Lok Sabha MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said that the Centre was using the provisions of the Disaster Management Act to encroach on the federal structure.
So far two trains one from Ajmer in Rajashthan and another from Kerala have brought back migrants to the State. Responding to a questioned posed about the Assembly polls in the State scheduled next year the TMC leadership also likened the various communications from Centre including the visit of Inter Ministerial Central Teams as part of “ election campaign” of the Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP).
Apologise or prove allegations says Abhishek
Earlier in the day TMC MP and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee said that the Home Minister should either prove the allegations or apologise.
“A HM failing to discharge his duties during this crisis speaks after weeks of silence, only to mislead people with bundle of lies! Ironically he’s talking about the very ppl ( people) who’ve been literally left to fate by his own Govt. Mr @AmitShah, prove your fake allegations or apologise,” Mr Banerjee has tweeted.
The Union Home Minister’s letter stated that the State was not allowing special trains for migrant workers of West Bengal stuck in different parts of the country.
“Migrants from West Bengal are also eager to reach home. Central govt is facilitating but we are not getting expected support from W.B. State Government, which is not allowing the trains to reach W.B…This is injustice with W.B. migrant labourers. This will create further hardship for them,” the letter said.
