Mamata Banerjee tells Jangalmahal what she did that Left Front and BJP didn’t

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In her speech Monday, Mamata described a time when people of Mednipur, Bankura and Purulia were afraid to come out of their homes. “I know every morning you would wonder if armed men would come to your homes and attack. If young men and women left home for work, their mothers would worry till they returned safe,” she said.

“Now all that has gone,” she added. “There is peace in Jangalmahal. And we have done this… You share a border with Jharkhand — has the BJP managed to bring peace there? Even in Chhattisgarh they have not managed. But the Trinamool has done that in West Bengal.”

She said the people of Bengal will never let the CPM or the Congress return, nor let the BJP enter. “We don’t need an alliance.”

She talked of the large number of security teams and election observers who have arrived in the state. “Please don’t be afraid of these people. And please don’t fight with them. They are our guests. Behave well with them, treat them to tea. They will leave the day after the elections,” she said, adding it is her government that will come back and continue the work that it has started. She went on to describe the work:

* “We have given rice at Rs 2 a kg to every poor person — in the tea gardens, in Singur, in Jangalmahal. Nine lakh new ration cards have been issued. And if you haven’t been able to get the rice with the new cards, you can still use the old ones.”

* “Cycles have been distributed to girls in classes X and XII. We will distribute cycles to girls in classes IX and X after the elections — they are still being built.”

* “I have brought two multi-specialty hospitals to Purulia. Treatment and beds in hospitals are free. There is an ITI here now and polytechnic colleges.

* “One thousand three hundred check dams in Jangalmahal have been commissioned so you can irrigate this dry land. Water projects worth Rs 1,200 crore have been sanctioned in collaboration with the Japanese.”

* “Loans worth Rs 20 lakh have been made available to adivasi students…”
Many of those who attended the rally described what they have got and what they need. “I do get the rice,” said Soma Mahato, 30, “but only one kilo a week at Rs 2 a kg. This is not enough.” And Mukut Mahato, 45, said: “Didi has done so much for the education of girls but my 15-year-old son has not got into any high school. I want a cycle for him.”