NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday intensified his attack on the Centre during the West Bengal assembly election campaign, questioning why chief minister Mamata Banerjee has not faced multiple criminal cases despite serious corruption charges linked to the Trinamool Congress (TMC). He asked why there are not ’36, 38 or 40 cases’ against the TMC chief even as he himself continues to face several legal proceedings.Addressing a public meeting at Sahid Minar Ground, Gandhi alleged that while the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has pursued multiple cases against him, no similar investigative action has been taken against Mamata Banerjee. He claimed this was because the TMC supremo does not directly confront the BJP in the same way as the Congress does.“Today I have come here, I am out on bail. Narendra Modi took away my official residence. He took away my Lok Sabha membership. Why are there not 36, 38 or 40 cases against Mamata Banerjee? The entire Bengal knows that people of the Trinamool have indulged in corruption. The Saradha chit fund scam was done by people of the Trinamool. It ruined 17 lakh investors. There are unpaid dues of Rs 1,900 crore. The Rose Valley chit fund scam took money from lakhs of people. There is extortion in the form of ‘goonda tax’ collection. But Narendra Modi, RSS and BJP have not conducted any investigation against Mamata ji. They do not attack Mamata ji. Why? Because they know that the real fight is not with the Trinamool. The real fight is with the Congress party,” he said.Gandhi siad Mamata and PM Modi are “two sides of the same coin”, considering that none of them care about the aspirations of the common people. “The Prime Minister claims that he is a true nationalist. But he had done nothing for the poor people. He had done everything for the millionaires. Before the Left Front rule, Congress ruled West Bengal. At that time there were several industries in the state,” he said. The Congress leader added, “Mamata Banerjee, too, like PM Narendra Modi, does not care for employment generation for the youth. Both the Prime Minister and the West Bengal Chief Minister are bothered about themselves. What PM Narendra Modi is doing in India, that is exactly what Mamata Banerjee is doing in West Bengal.”The Lok Sabha’s Leader of Opposition further compared investigative scrutiny faced by him with what he described as the absence of ED or CBI action against the West Bengal CM.Stating that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned him for 55 hours over five consecutive days, the Congress leader asked, “For how many hours was Mamata Banerjee interrogated?”Gandhi reiterated that no central probe agencies were acting against the TMC chief. In a separate poll rally at Serampore in Hooghly district for the second phase of West Bengal assembly elections, Gandhi said: “This is because she does not fight the BJP directly.”He also highlighted the legal cases pending against him and said he is required to travel frequently across states to attend court proceedings.Gandhi said, “My house was taken away, my Lok Sabha membership was taken away; there are 36 cases against me.”The Congress leader said that he has to travel to various states like Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Bihar every 10-15 days to fight the cases registered against him.“I want to ask how many cases have been registered against Mamata Banerjee by Narendra Modi?” he asked.Gandhi asserted that only the Congress takes on the BJP on ideological grounds, alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi targets him, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and others consistently.Claiming that PM Modi criticises the TMC chief only during election periods, he said, “Let the Bengal elections end; Narendra Modi will not speak a word against Mamata Banerjee.”He further said that the BJP understands only the Congress can challenge its ideological framework, not the Trinamool Congress.Gandhi accused the TMC leadership of destroying industry and contributing to unemployment in West Bengal, alleging that jobs are distributed through political connections.“One has to have a relative in the TMC to get a job in Bengal, else he will not get any,” he said, accusing the chief minister of working for the interests of “goons” and party workers.Gandhi also alleged that major scams such as Saradha and Rose Valley occurred under the TMC regime, affecting lakhs of investors.He further alleged widespread coal smuggling, illegal mining and what he termed “goonda tax” collection in the state.He accused the TMC of similar behaviour towards opposition workers as the BJP allegedly does in other states.Gandhi also referred to the 2021 TMC poll promise of five lakh jobs, questioning its implementation, and cited unemployment-related concerns in the state.The remarks come amid heightened political exchanges between the Congress, BJP and TMC during the ongoing election campaign in West Bengal.The polling for Phase I of the assembly elections concluded at 6 pm on Thursday, with West Bengal recording a significantly higher voter turnout of 91.78 per cent, according to the Election Commission. The second phase of the polling will be held on April 29, with counting scheduled for May 4.
