Left and TMC in fresh row over Railways ad

A Railway advertisement triggered a fresh political spat between the West Bengal government and Trinamool Congress (TMC) with the ruling CPI(M) today accusing Mamata Banerjee of using railway funds to propagate her party's cause.

“She is advertising her party and the expense is borne by the Railways. People understand what they are doing,” said Biman Bose, CPI(M) state secretary.

The slogan ‘Agriculture is our inspiration, industry is our perception’ appeared in an advertisement by the Eastern Railways for foundation laying by Railways Minister Banerjee for an AC container and bogie manufacturing factory at Budge Budge in South 24 Parganas district.

The Left Front chairman, said, “railways is not making profits and because of her ways, it is likely to be in deep financial trouble.”

The allegations were denioed by TMC leader and West Bengal Assembly Leader of Opposition, Partha Chatterjee, who said, “it is they who do it.”

All state government advertisements were captioned ‘Left Front Government’ and not ‘Government of West Bengal government’.

Alleging that the CPI(M) has been usurping public money for the last three and half decades for its benefit, Chatterjee said, “those who use public money for their party are saying this. Do they understand what was written in the advertisement?"

The advertisement that portrayed the Railways' development projects as Eid gifts, also contained Islamic motifs such as a crescent moon, a star and the outlines of a mosque in the background.