TMC leader Saugata Roy hits back at Amit Shah over Bengal's development

Opposing Union Home Minister Amit Shah's claims that West Bengal was doing poorly on almost every indicator, be it GDP or per capita income, the Trinamool Congress said on Tuesday (December 22) that attempts are being made to create a false narrative about the state.

Senior TMC leader Saugata Roy said that the state has shown impressive performance in GDP, industrial output, per capita income, construction of rural roads among others.
 

While addressing a press conference in Birbhum on Sunday (December 20), Union home minister Amit Shah said, “Bengal was once among the better-performing states, but now in the reign of Mamata Banerjee it was doing poorly on almost every indicator, be it GDP or per capita income.”
 

Countering the charge levelled by Amit Shah that the Bengal government had misused funds meant for Amphan relief, Saugata Roy said, the state was yet to receive Rs 32,310 crore earmarked for the SDRF (State Disaster Relief Force) from the Centre.
 

On Monday (December 21) poll strategist Prashant Kishore said that the BJP will not cross the two-digit figure in the West Bengal assembly elections. In this context, the senior TMC leader said, “We support his tweets, he is the election strategist of our party. Prashant Kishor had similarly advised Narendra Modi during his campaign in 2014 Lok Sabha poll.”

Speaking on the performance of West Bengal, Roy said, the state's GDP has increased by 53 per cent, from Rs 4.51 lakh crore to Rs 6.9 lakh crore in the last 10 years.

Saugata Roy mentioned that industrial development of the state is 3.1 percent, which he said, is five times that of the national average in 2019-20. Roy also claimed that FDI in the state has increased 24 times between 2016 and 2018. The budgetary expenditure in the health sector has increased three times from Rs 3,442 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 11,280 crore in 2020.