Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday slammed Opposition parties and urged people “never to believe” the CPI-M, Congress and the BJP.

Addressing a public meeting at Hemtabad in North Dinajpur, the CM further hit out at the Centre and said that the BJP starts chanting ‘Hare Krishna Hare Hare’ and ‘Ram Bandana’ whenever elections knock the door.

“After the elections, they start looting money from the common people and in order to make up for the balance, they reduce the rate of interest of the provident fund,” Miss Banerjee said.

“When the BJP government took charge at the Centre, the rate of interest of the provident fund was 8.8 percent. It has now been reduced to 5.5 percent,” she added.

Raising her voice against the CPI-M, Miss Banerjee said that in its reign of 34 years, the party did nothing for the poor in the state. She further claimed that the Congress has no issues with the CPIM and the BJP.

“The BJP is trying to divide the Hindu and Muslim population in the state,” she said, adding that the BJP had also been dividing Tribals and Muslims in villages.

Condemning the policies of the central government, she said, “ICDS and ASHA workers often send me letters, demanding a hike in their salaries.

These are conspiracies of the opposition. ICDS and ASHA are centrally-organized projects. The BJP-led central government has stopped allocating money under such projects for the past two years.

The state is now continuing these projects with its own funds.” “ASHA workers were earlier paid Rs 800 per month. Now they are drawing Rs 2000 per month and are also receiving incentives worth Rs 2000. The salary of ICDS workers also saw a hike of Rs 500,” she said.

“We are now fighting against Delhi. It is not our political fight. It is our fight against the deterioration of the federal system of our county.

It is also a fight to stop the divide and rule policy between the Hindus and Muslims which is being introduced by the BJP. We do believe in secularism.

If my heart is Hindu, my kidney is Muslim and my pancreas is Christian,” she added. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister announced construction of a medical college with a capacity of 500 beds in Raiganj.

Miss Banerjee also inaugurated some newly-constructed roads, hostels and bridges in North Dinajpur district as she distributed a number of facilities to the beneficiaries, including bicycles under the Sabuj Sathi Scheme, cars under the ‘Goti Dhara’ scheme and houses under the ‘Geetanjali project.’