Kolkata, Oct 9 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday claimed that the state had turned “dependent” during the nearly 50-year rule of the Left Front and the TMC, and asserted that his government would work to make it self-reliant under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Maintaining that Gujarat, which he visited last week, was like a well-drawn picture and a fairy-tale state, he said West Bengal must also be taken forward on the path of development.
“West Bengal had become a dependent state in the 50-year rule of the Left and the Trinamool Congress. We are working to transform it into a self-reliant state under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.
“Let us endeavour to make West Bengal like Gujarat in the next five years. If not fully, at least 50 per cent of that should be achieved,” he said while attending an exhibition as part of the Seva Sankalp Abhiyan at the Indian Museum here.
Referring to the BJP’s victories in Rejinagar and Nandigram assembly bypolls, Adhikari said that the people of the two constituencies brought down the “wall of communalism”.
“People’s faith in the Prime Minister’s development initiatives and the state government was reflected in every booth in Rejinagar and Nandigram,” he said.
Adhikari said the nationalists defeated the previous TMC regime’s alleged divisive politics based on people’s language and origin.
The BJP won the bypolls in the Rejinagar and Nandigram assembly seats by record margins.
“It was my lifetime achievement to attend the concluding session of the main programme of Seva Sankalp Abhiyan at Vadnagar in Gujarat,” he said about his visit to PM Modi’s birthplace in Mehsana district of the western state.
Adhikari said that West Bengal has performed “very well” in organising the Seva Sankalp Abhiyan in the state.
He said that under the leadership of the longest-serving Prime Minister, India has become the fourth-largest economy in the world and will soon reach the third spot.
“India has transformed from an arms-importing country to an arms-exporting nation under PM Modi’s leadership,” Adhikari said.
Visiting the exhibition to mark the 25-year journey of Narendra Modi as the chief minister of Gujarat and Prime Minister of the country, he said the Seva Sankalp Abhiyan programme has been held in various phases in West Bengal along with other parts of India since September 17.
“We have been able to hold the programme beautifully and successfully,” the chief minister said.
Adhikari said the state government also has plans to hold the ‘Youth Innovation’ and other programmes in this connection after the Durga Puja festival next week.
He said that on September 17, the birthday of Modi, nearly three crore beneficiaries of various government welfare schemes had joined the ‘Ashirbadon ki Diya’ programme.
The chief minister said his government had initiated a mechanism for including those who are yet to receive the benefits of certain central or state welfare schemes.
Around 60 lakh people attended the Seva Setu programme organised for this purpose, he said. PTI AMR NN
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