Will you seek forgiveness from jute mill workers: BJP asks Rahul

Ridiculing Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's planned interaction with jute mill workers in West Bengal on Saturday, the BJP on Friday asked whether he would seek forgiveness for taking no action to alleviate their plight during the 10-year rule of the UPA government.

"Is Rahul Gandhi going to ask forgiveness from the workers for taking no action during 10 years of UPA rule?" wondered Bharatiya Janata Party state unit general secretary and MLA Samik Bhattacharya.

The BJP leader reminded Gandhi that 18 jute mills were lying closed in the state rendering over three lakh workers jobless.

Bhattacharya alleged that the Jute Packing Materials (Compulsory Use In Packing Commodities) Act, 1987, was "effectively diluted" during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance rule from 2004-14.

Citing an instance, he claimed sugar packing in jute bags was reduced from 100 percent to 40 percent and then to 20 percent during the UPA rule.

Bhattacharya said the Jute Technology Mission of the central government was discontinued by the UPA from 2011.

"This mission was working to increase raw jute cultivation, modernisation of jute industry, development of infrastructure for jute industry etc. All this has stopped," he said.

Gandhi, on a day's visit to the state, is slated to interact with workers of Wellington Jute Mils in Rishra in Hooghly district on Saturday.