Centre withholding funds for West Bengal for not displaying PM's face on ration shops, claims Congress

Ramesh also questioned why Jamshedpur had inadequate transit connections despite being a major manufacturing centre.

The Congress, On May 19, claimed that West Bengal had been denied funding under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) because the state had not put Narendra Modi's face on ration shops. The Congress also questioned the prime minister on if he puts his public relations ahead of the daily sustenance of the people.

Ahead of Modi's Lok Sabha election rallies in West Bengal, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh directed questions towards him.

“Does the PM have any solutions to the Kurmi community’s demands? Why has the West Bengal governor failed to resign despite multiple molestation charges? Is the outgoing PM really withholding Rs 7,000 crore of ration funds so that his face is plastered on ration shops?” Ramesh questioned in a post on X (previously known as Twitter.)

Ramesh stated that in order to assure that every underprivileged community in India has access to the opportunity they deserve, the Congress "Nyay Patra" (election manifesto) calls for a national caste census.

“Will the outgoing PM ever stop paying lip-service to the Kurmi community’s cause and meaningfully commit himself to a caste census? Will he recognise the Kurmi community’s religious practices?” he asked.

Speaking further about what he described as "jumla (rhetorical) details," Ramesh claimed that the Modi administration had openly used the Kurmis for political gain without responding to any of their demands.

“The community has long demanded ST status but the Modi Sarkar continues to drag its heels on the matter, despite the state government submitting the Cultural Research Institute report to the Centre in 2017,” he said.

The upper-caste leaders in the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been especially dismissive of the Kurmis’ demand, Ramesh claimed.

In addition, he said that the BJP-led Centre has been denying West Bengal NFSA funding in a "incredibly petty move" because Modi's visage isn't displayed on ration shops.

“In an attempt to coerce the state government into displaying signboards and flexes featuring the PM’s photos, the Centre has withheld Rs 7,000 crore of paddy procurement funds. This could seriously hinder the state’s paddy procurement throughout this financial year,” Ramesh said.

According to him, the Jharkhand government and the Airports Authority of India signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in January 2019 to begin construction of the Dhalbhumgarh airport by December 2022.

He said, “This would have been a massive boost to the industrial sector, from major players like Tata to the MSME sector in Adityapur. When the December 2022 deadline came and went, BJP’s own MPs were compelled to raise the issue in Parliament. On February 27, 2023, the Union Civil Aviation Minister responded and confirmed that the project had been abandoned."

Ramesh also questioned why Jamshedpur had inadequate transit connections despite being a major manufacturing centre.

“Why do the people of Jamshedpur still suffer from poor connectivity? Why is it that the 2As and their tempo-loads of black money roam free, while Jharkhand’s Adivasi CM was put in jail? Why is the Adityapur Industrial Area still waiting for environmental clearance? Why has the PM denied Adivasis their religious identity and refused to recognise the Sarna code?” he said.

Although the city was included in the UDAN system in 2018, plans for a new airport have not come to fruition, according to Ramesh. The airport was operational till 2016.

He claimed that there are not enough trains going to important places like Bengaluru, Delhi, and Bhagalpur.