Abhishek promises more development for Purulia at rally

Calling upon voters to ensure a clean sweep for the Trinamul Congress (TMC) in Purulia, national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday said that if the party wins all nine Assembly seats in the district, he will ensure all pending development projects would be completed.

Addressing a public meeting at Kashipur, Mr Banerjee said: “In the next six months, people must ensure that the entire Purulia district turns green. If we win all nine Assembly seats, all required projects and facilities have already been noted down, and I am taking personal responsibility for their completion.”

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In the 2021 Assembly elections, the TMC won only three seats in Purulia, while the BJP secured the remaining six. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP led in eight Assembly segments of the constituency, with the TMC ahead only in Bandwan.

Taking aim at the BJP, Mr Banerjee said prices of essential commodities such as tea, mustard oil, pulses, paddy, petrol and cooking gas cylinders has risen sharply. “What benefits have the poor and middle class received during the ‘acche din’ of Purulia MP Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato?” he asked, adding that the TMC government had not imposed additional taxes on people.

Referring to the Left Front era without naming Maoists, he said that earlier police personnel could not venture out of police stations at night, whereas during the last 15 years of the ‘Ma, Mati, Manush’ government, policemen were living peacefully, bloodshed had stopped and the district had emerged as a tourism hub.

Stating that the BJP had won the Purulia Lok Sabha seat by a large margin in 2019, Mr Banerjee said the party’s target was now to win all nine Assembly seats to accelerate development. “We have identified the need for a polytechnic college, cold storages and a super-speciality hospital. These projects will be set up in the coming days,” he said.

He alleged that several former CPM, DYFI and SFI leaders in Purulia had joined the BJP and were now local leaders. “These people were responsible for Purulia becoming one of the most backward districts in the country,” he claimed, citing the example of former Forward Bloc MP Narahari Mahato joining the BJP.

Mr Banerjee said he would return to Purulia within a month and visit all nine Assembly constituencies. He added that the 2026 Assembly elections were not only about making Mamata Banerjee chief minister for a fourth term, but also about sending a message against what he described as the Centre’s apathy towards West Bengal over the past decade.

Alleging that the Bengali language, culture and Bengali-speaking people were being targeted across the country, he challenged Purulia MP Jyotirmoy Singh Mahato to go to voters with his “report card”.

He claimed that around 3.4 lakh people in Purulia would soon benefit from drinking water projects, but alleged that 50 per cent of the funds under the Jal Jeevan Mission, to be provided by the Centre, were not being released, causing delays. Similar problems, he said, were affecting schemes such as Banglar Awas Yojana, Gram Sadak Yojana, the 100-days’ work scheme and the Sarva Shiksha Mission.

Mr Banerjee further alleged that no new railway line had been set up in Purulia in the last seven years and that the sitting MP had failed to bring any major central project to the district since 2019. “Then, what is the benefit of the so-called double-engine government?” he asked.

He also claimed that 117 people had committed suicide in the state within 80 days due to fear over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, questioning who was responsible. Drawing a parallel with demonetisation, he said that people who once stood in queues to deposit money were now again being forced to queue up for SIR hearings.