TMC ups the ante with direct attack on Centre ahead of Amit Shah’s Bengal address

Amid BJP’s incisive attacks on the Mamata Banerjee government over alleged mismanagement of the Covid-19 situation and cyclone Amphan, TMC has been upping the ante against the Centre over the past few days.

Ahead of union home minister Amit Shah’s address to the people of Bengal on June 9, West Bengal’s ruling party Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Sunday sharpened its attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led union government, accusing the Centre of causing disasters with “unplanned lockdown” and disrupting the state’s plan of bringing back migrant workers in a phased manner.

TMC leaders have also cited Gujarat’s example to claim that BJP-ruled states had fared poorly in Covid management due to alleged lack of planning.(Photo by Samir Jana / Hindustan Times)

Blaming the railways for the sudden spike in Bengal’s Covid-19 infection count led by migrant workers returning to the state, TMC all-India general secretary Subrata Bakshi said, “The railways forcefully sent back a large number of migrant workers in packed trains, violating all social distancing norms, and disrupting the state’s own plan to bring them back in a phased manner. They had no plan for the lockdown and spoilt the state’s plan for keeping Bengal safe.”

Urban development minister Firhad Hakim, too, targeted the Centre. “Our focus is the post-corona, post-cyclone situation. Their focus is next year’s election. The priorities are clear,” Hakim said, adding, “Our government held two meetings with opposition parties and accepted some of their proposals with an absolutely open mind. But what did the opposition parties do? They played politics.”

Amid BJP’s incisive attacks on the Mamata Banerjee government over alleged mismanagement of the Covid-19 situation and cyclone Amphan, TMC has been upping the ante against the Centre over the past few days.

Ministers, including Hakim, Partha Chatterjee and Rajib Banerjee have blamed “centre’s unplanned lockdown” for the recent steep rise in India’s Covid-19 numbers. TMC leaders have also cited Gujarat’s example to claim that BJP-ruled states had fared poorly in Covid management due to alleged lack of planning.