‘Won’t set up detention camps, don’t give forceful instructions to our officers like British’: Mamata to Centre

On Tuesday, the West Bengal government launched Unnayoner Panchali, a 15-year “report card” presented through traditional lyrical storytelling, documenting Mamata Banerjee’s governance journey. The campaign transforms policy achievements into a Panchali, Bengal’s centuries-old oral verse tradition.

CM Banerjee said, “Earlier our mothers and grandmothers used to sing Panchali in the evenings, and the language of our home and soil used to be transferred orally. People enjoyed it a lot and it was compulsory. This has become extinct now — it still happens in villages where people light diyas under tulsi plants.”

During the announcement of the Trinamool Congress government’s work over the last fifteen years, Banerjee told the Centre, “You may torture us, deprive us, we will still talk about cooperation. We want your cooperation, we want cooperative federalism.”

She announced that the state government will provide Rs 2 lakh each to the families of those who lost their lives or died by alleged suicide allegedly due to SIR-related stress. Families of those injured or hospitalised will be given Rs 1 lakh. The Chief Minister said, “As far as I know, till date, 39 persons have died because of SIR, including BLOs. Thirteen persons are hospitalised and three persons tried to commit suicide and are now undergoing treatment. All those families will get compensation.”

She instructed all District Magistrates, “I know you are busy with election duty, but don’t ignore developmental work. What we committed to people, we have to deliver. Those district administrations that complete their work early will be rewarded.”

She also addressed Chief Secretary Manoj Pant: “We already have an observer team overseeing project development. You make a monitoring team with ten officers who will monitor the project works.”

Banerjee went on to inform that before the 2026 Assembly elections, the state government would not organise the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS). Instead, a business conclave will be held on December 18. “We will organise BGBS next year after the election and after forming the government,” she said.

Banerjee said, “Our government has pulled up one crore and 72 lakh families from the poverty level during these fourteen years. We generated more than two crore employment opportunities and decreased unemployment by 40 per cent.” She added, “We generated more than one crore jobs in the MSME sector and developed 12 lakh new self-help groups.”

“What we promised, we did. We are not like the BJP who show off before elections — they promised to give ten thousand in Bihar and gave bulldozers after winning the election,” she said.

Singer Iman Chakraborty performed the Panchali along with her team during the launch. The initiative marks a departure from conventional political communication.