Barrackpore, 27 April (H.S.): On the final day of his election campaign in West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a big jobs‑focused promise to voters in Barrackpore, declaring that “five major employment‑linked measures will begin quickly in West Bengal after May 4.”

Speaking at an election rally in Barrackpore on Monday, after a high‑energy roadshow through the town,PM Modi framed the date of result counting as the trigger for a sweeping overhaul of the state’s job‑creation and welfare architecture.

First pillar: Transparent and timely recruitment

PM Modi said that the first step will be timely and transparent government recruitment in Bengal. “Government job announcements will be made on schedule and in a transparent way,” he said, adding that young people will be given appointment letters on the spot at job fairs. This line of argument is aimed at those who feel that the current system delays recruitment and lacks transparency.

Second pillar: Filling vacancies and 7th Pay benefits

The second initiative, according to the Prime Minister, will be to fill all vacant government posts as quickly as possible. He claimed that state employees will be freed from the “fear of the Trinamool Congress,” and that government workers will finally receive the full benefits of the 7th Pay Commission, which they have long been waiting for.

Third pillar: Boosting the creative economy

The third measure is to promote the creative economy in Bengal. PM Modi pledged that the government will work to set up maker‑labs and innovation‑oriented workshops in schools and colleges across the state, encouraging students to move from dependency on exams to hands‑on creation, design and entrepreneurship.

Fourth pillar: Rural employment and welfare schemes

On rural employment, PM Modi said that the fourth measure will be to ensure 125 days of work in villages every year. A BJP‑led state government, he promised, would bring into force the WB‑JG Ramji Act, under which rural residents would get assured work.

In addition, two flagship union schemes—PM Vishwakarma Yojana and PM SAMPADA Yojana will be implemented in the state, focusing on artisans, small manufacturers and food‑processing units.

Fifth pillar: Support for urban street vendors

The fifth step will be to extend full benefits of the PM SVANidhi scheme to urban street‑vendors, including access to micro‑credit from banks.PM Modi said that small‑scale vendors and cart‑owning workers, who often operate in the informal sector, will be brought into the formal‑financial fold so they can scale up their businesses and protect their livelihoods.

Attack on TMC’s “maha‑jangal raj”

Against this backdrop, PM Modi lashed out at the Trinamool Congress, accusing the party of presiding over a “maha‑jangal raj” in Bengal. He claimed that around a dozen jute mills have shut down in the Barrackpore industrial belt in recent months, while factories that produce bombs and criminal syndicates have flourished. “On one side, job‑creating factories are closing; on the other, bomb‑factories and gangster‑syndicates are expanding,” he said, portraying the current regime as one that encourages violence over employment.

Criticism of TMC over ‘Ma, Mati, Manush’

The Prime Minister also hit out at the TMC for allegedly abandoning its own core slogan of “Ma, Mati, Manush” (Mother, Motherland, People). “In this election, I have been very disturbed that TMC leaders have not even mentioned ‘Ma, Mati, Manush’,” he said, pointing out that the party came to power on that slogan but now appears to have forgotten it.

He accused the TMC of failing on all three counts:

Doing nothing meaningful for “Ma” (mothers/women), especially in terms of safety and welfare;

Doing little for “Mati” (farmers and land); and

Neglecting youth, whose aspirations and needs, he argued, the TMC government has “completely failed” to meet.

By packaging the five post‑May‑4 employment and welfare measures as a clear break from the TMC’s record, Modi sought to convince the Barrackpore‑area electorate that a BJP victory will not just bring a change of faces, but a structured, day‑one agenda to tackle Bengal’s long‑standing jobs crisis and expand social security for women, farmers and street‑vendors.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar