70 lakh farmers in Bengal unable to secure PM KISAN benefits due to Mamata govt: PM Modi
Dec 25, 2020
New Delhi [India], December 25 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of blocking the PM KISAN scheme for farmers in West Bengal due to political reasons.
Addressing farmers after releasing an installment of PM KISAN scheme, the Prime Minister said that Banerjee's ideology has destroyed West Bengal and questioned the silence of Opposition for her decision to not implement the scheme in the state that is in the interest of farmers.
"Atal Bihari Vajpayee used to term corruption in farmers' policies as a national disease. Rs 1.10 lakh crores have been transferred into farmer accounts under PM KISAN scheme. Through technology, it has been ensured that there are no loopholes in the scheme. I am glad that farmers across India are getting benefits under this scheme. All state governments have allowed this scheme, except West Bengal government," he said.
"70 lakh farmers of Bengal are not able to get the benefits under the scheme because the West Bengal government due to political reasons are not agreeing to implement it," he added.
Criticising the West Bengal government further, the PM said, "Mamata Banerjee's ideology has destroyed Bengal. Her actions against the farmers have hurt me a lot. Why is the Opposition quiet on this?"
The Prime Minister said that some Opposition parties are misleading farmers of Punjab and accused them of having "double policy".
"You have time to mislead the farmers of Punjab, you do not have time to start this system in Kerala. Why are you moving ahead with double policy?" he asked.
"Those who are playing the game with their flags in the name of farmers, now they have to hear the truth," he added.
PM Modi released Rs 18,000 crores as the next instalment under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme to over 9 crore farmers.