West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said that the country is going through the “darkest” period now. She said that the GDP had hit the lowest and people are in distress. She was speaking at the business meet, Infocom, in Kolkata
Banerjee said that the Central government is trying to exert undue control over the industries and banks and scaring the banks and industries by exerting pressure and influence through agencies like the Eforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation, Income Tax and Sales Tax departments among others.
The CM said that such “unnecessary interference” is uncalled for and was harming the day to day running of industries. West Bengal’s performance is much better than many states at a time the GDP has hit an all-time low in the country, she said, adding that the current situation in the country is the “darkest”.
She accused the Centre of trying to run a “parallel government” in this state and in some others. She blamed the Centre of scaring common people as well as industrialists by introducing a system of “uncertainty” in the banking system.
Referring to the situation as an “epidemic”, Banerjee said that “unemployment and poverty has gone sky-high.” The religion-based divisive politics of the ruling party at the Centre will not bring solutions to such problems, she said.
Banerjee appealed to the common people to never let any effort to divide the country succeed on the basis of caste, creed and religion. She reiterated that large scale merger of various public sector units cannot bring a permanent solution to the distressed economic situation of the country.
During Trinamool Congress’ rule in Bengal, the rate of unemployment has gone down by 40 per cent, Banerjee said. The state has also topped in various other areas such as the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, eradication of poverty and skill development, she added.
The CM invited industrialists present at the meet to invest in the state and create employment opportunities for the state’s youth, assuring them of all cooperation.
