New Delhi: Terming Mamata Banerjee government as an extension of the Left's 34-year "misrule", BJP on Wednesday questioned its development claims and alleged that West Bengal was only witnessing growth of "bomb-making" industry and the "syndicates" run by Trinamool Congress supporters.
BJP also accused the TMC government of using tax money to "spread the falsehood" about the state's economic growth through nation-wide advertisements, saying it was a "blatant distortion of statistics" and Bengal's "very low" economic base was the main reason behind such a growth.
Addressing a press conference, party secretary Sidharth Nath Singh, who is also co-incharge of the state, claimed that West Bengal was becoming an "ungovernable state" and was in a "terminal decline".
Refuting the TMC's claim of increasing growth in the state, he said there was little Own Tax Revenue rise and that the OTR ration to the state's gross domestic product was only 5.7 per cent, one of the lowest in the country while the debt ratio at 35 per cent was more than that of the BJP-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
"The TMC government's claim that Bengal is witnessing a boom in industrialisation is contrary to the ground reality. Industries like jute and tea are closing down. Only one industry is flourishing bomb making.
"The lack of industrialisation is because of the growth of syndicate under TMC which were called local committees under the CPI(M). The government's donations to these syndicates have grown to Rs 115 crore in 2015 from Rs 15.62 crore in 2012," Singh said. The Assembly election in the state is likely to be held in April next year.
Buttressing his point that Bengal's 10.48 per cent growth in 2014-15 was due to its low base, he said a poor state like Bihar had grown by 17 per cent for the same reason.
The state government's claim about starting of projects worth over Rs 91,000 crore was also "misleading", he said, noting that work worth over Rs 70,000 crore pertained to the Centre. He also hit out at the Congress government in Assam for registration of a criminal case against BJP workers over their protests at its office. He alleged that that it took no action against its leaders involved in targeting BJP leaders and the party office. "It is a case of double standards," he said.
