Hooghly, Apr 25: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that the Narendra Modi government has filed several cases against him but not against Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, claiming this is because she does not “directly” fight the BJP.
Stating that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned him for 55 hours over five consecutive days, the Congress leader asked, “For how many hours was Mamata Banerjee interrogated?”
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha said that there is no probe by the ED or the CBI against the West Bengal chief minister.
“This is because she does not fight the BJP directly,” Gandhi said, while addressing a poll rally at Serampore in Hooghly district for the second phase of West Bengal assembly elections.
There is no immediate response from the TMC in this regard.
Noting that he is out on bail at present, Gandhi said, “My house was taken away, my Lok Sabha membership was taken away; there are 36 cases against me.”
The former Congress president said that he has to travel to various states like Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Bihar every 10-15 days to fight the cases registered against him.
“I want to ask how many cases have been registered against Mamata Banerjee by Narendra Modi?” he said.
Only the Congress party takes on the BJP on an ideological basis, Gandhi asserted, claiming that Modi attacks him, party president Kharge and others round the clock.
Claiming that the PM attacks the TMC chief only during the elections in the state, he said, “Let the Bengal elections end; Narendra Modi will not speak a word against Mamata Banerjee.”
Gandhi said Modi knows only the Congress party can defeat the BJP and RSS and their ideology, not the Trinamool Congress.
He accused the TMC supremo of destroying industry and creating joblessness in West Bengal.
“One has to have a relative in the TMC to get a job in Bengal, else he will not get any,” he said, accusing the chief minister of working for the interest of goons and workers of her party.
Alleging that Banerjee did not do anything for the welfare and income generation of the people, the Congress leader pointed to the closed Hindustan Motors factory in nearby Hindmotor.
“Bengal used to be the centre of industry in the country, but first the Left Front and then the TMC destroyed everything,” he said.
“If Narendra Modi indulges in corruption, then Mamata Banerjee is also not far behind,” he claimed.
Gandhi said that it was during the TMC government that the Saradha and Rose Valley ponzy scams involving thousands of crores of rupees took place.
He alleged that coal smuggling and illegal mining take place in the TMC-ruled state and that goonda tax is imposed on every activity in Bengal.
The Rae Bareli MP alleged that the TMC brings down the same atrocities on Congress workers in Bengal as those in other parts of the country by the BJP.
“Mamata Banerjee had promised five lakh jobs in 2021, but has anyone got employment?” he asked, maintaining that 84 lakh youths have applied for unemployment allowance in Bengal.
Claiming that atrocities on women have risen under the TMC rule, the Congress leader pointed to the rape and murder of an on-duty doctor at the state-run R G Kar Medical College and Hospital in 2024.
“Mamata Banerjee is opening the road for the BJP in Bengal,” he said, arguing that had she worked for the people’s interests, the BJP would not have been able to make inroads in the state.
