'Beti Bachao' scheme a flop, has not provided any realistic help to people: Mamata

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee Friday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's much-touted 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' scheme is a flop and has not provided any realistic help to the people of the country.

Describing Modi as "Expiry PM", Banerjee said he has given only Rs 100 crore in one year under the 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' scheme.

"With a population of 130 crore that does not come to even one paisa per citizen of the country," she said, claiming that her government has spent thousands of crores of rupees for the 'Kanyashree' programme in the state.

The 'Kanyashree' programme, a conditional cash transfer scheme, was awarded the United Nations Public Service Award for aiding the girl child in education and her well-being.

Countering Modi's claim that she is a 'speed breaker' in the path of Bengal's development, Banerjee listed a number of welfare schemes and programmes started by her government in the state.

She claimed that though the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has curtailed funds for many welfare projects like the Integrated Child Development Scheme and Asha, these have been kept alive by her dispensation in West Bengal through funding by the state government.

"Modi says nothing (development) happened in Bengal. I ask what has happened in Delhi," she said at an election rally here in Darjeeling district.

She asked whether the Modi government has reopened a single closed tea garden in the Terai-Dooars and the Darjeeling Hills despite having promised to do so.

Claiming that many of the development schemes announced by the prime minister were "eyewash" and were of little help to the people, Banerjee said people had to buy cooking gas after a few months despite having enrolled in the 'UJALA scheme'.

She said the TMC-Gorkha Janmukti Morcha combine has fielded "a son of the soil" for the Lok Sabha election in Darjeeling unlike the BJP in 2014 when it had got "an outsider as its candidate and was not seen again in the hills after winning".

BJP MP S S Ahluwalia, who had won the seat in 2014 with the support of Bimal Gurung-led GJM, has been accused of being absent from the area during the months-long 2017 unrest in the Darjeeling Hills over the statehood demand.

Ahluwalia has been replaced by Raju Bista by the BJP this time, while the TMC-GJM combine has fielded Amar Singh Rai.

Claiming that she has brought peace to the hills, Banerjee said, "BJP had divided the people of the hills and the plains, while we have brought them together...The hills and the plains are together to ensure peace and development of the region."
Referring to Bista, an entrepreneur who is based in Delhi, she said, "We want a leader who is the son of the soil and not someone who lands from Delhi."