Kolkata, 05 June (H.S.):

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrates 11 years of Narendra Modi’s tenure at the Centre, the West Bengal unit of the party has announced an outreach campaign to promote what it calls the “pro-poor and inclusive development” agenda of the Modi government. The state BJP aims to highlight how various central welfare schemes have benefited the economically weaker sections in Bengal.

State BJP President Sukanta Majumdar said the campaign would focus on how central initiatives have empowered the underprivileged. “Crores of people in Bengal who never had access to banking are now conducting digital transactions. Families once dependent on traditional chulhas now cook using LPG stoves,” Majumdar said, underlining the impact of schemes like Jan Dhan Yojana and Ujjwala Yojana.

The BJP also highlighted the challenges it says have stemmed from the alleged non-cooperation of the Trinamool Congress (TMC)-led state government. BJP spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, “If these central schemes were implemented without political obstruction from the state government, the lives of Bengal’s poor would have improved even more. The TMC government has deliberately hindered the effective rollout of these programs.”

BJP leaders claimed that under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), lakhs of families in Bengal have received permanent housing, while the Ujjwala scheme has enhanced women’s health and hygiene by providing free LPG connections. They also pointed to the Jal Jeevan Mission, which has brought piped water to rural households across the state, and the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system, which they said has reduced corruption and ensured direct delivery of benefits.

The party plans to intensively publicize these schemes and their outcomes as part of its ongoing political messaging, emphasizing that the central government has been committed to inclusive growth despite resistance from the state leadership.

Hindusthan Samachar / Satya Prakash Singh