BJP Rally in Bengal: Claims Made by Party Leaders Far From the Truth

With a rally on Sunday, the BJP attempted to start the process of solidifying its base of support in the brewing region of Bengal. However, some of the assertions made by the party's leaders at the event are believed to have been far from the truth.

At the meeting that the BJP Trade Union Relation Cell organized at Dagapur in Siliguri, none of the BJP's MLAs from Kurseong, Darjeeling, or Dabgram-Fulbari showed up.

Smriti Irani, the Union minister for women's and children's welfare, Sukanta Majumdar, and Darjeeling MP Raju Bista all attended the conference, which the party only managed to mobilize only 4,000 people for—far short of their goal of over 25,000 attendees.

The recent byelection in Dhupguri, where the Trinamul Congress trounced the BJP, served as a backdrop for the gathering.

Irani and other BJP leaders made some statements that Trinamul, labor activists, and even tea growers in north Bengal vehemently refuted.

The claims and the truth are presented by The Telegraph.

Tea money

What Irani said: "For skilled workers, the Centre has set a minimum salary of Rs 350. I'd like to ask Mamata Banerjee why tea workers in her state won't receive increased pay. On the other side, you increase the salary of your leaders (MLAs) by Rs 40,000.

"The Prime Minister announced minimum wages in Parliament in 2022," stated Bista. Mamatadidi has yet to put it into practice in Bengal, though.

Fact: Since Trinamul came to power in 2011, the daily wage of tea plantation workers in Bengal has grown from Rs 67 to Rs 250.

Since our cost of production has increased, we are actually worried by the state government's constant revision of pay, according to a Siliguri-based tea grower.

The daily salary of a tea estate worker in the neighboring state of Assam, where the BJP is in power, is Rs 232 in the Brahmaputra valley and Rs 210 in the Barak valley.

To recommend the minimum wage, the Mamata Banerjee administration assembled an advisory council made up of members of the tea sector and some administrative staff.

The lack of agreement among planters and trade unions prevented the committee from recommending the minimum pay for the workers in the tea gardens after numerous meetings.

Housing

Irani claimed that despite the Bengal government having established the first-ever free housing program for workers in tea gardens known as Cha Sundari, "those who possess acres of land were asked to take 500 square feet without any houses."

Tea workers were defrauded under the guise of the Cha Sundari scheme, according to Sukanta Majumdar. Some employees are given housing that is not suitable for a family to reside in.

According to administrative sources, about 1,000 free homes with bathrooms have been given to tea workers in the districts of Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar. "More homes are being built, and the employees are getting them for free. Officers have been hired to identify employees who have retired or are about to retire so that their housing needs can be met first, according to a source.

rights to land

Irani claimed that although the state government had permitted hotels and resorts to be built within tea estates, no steps had been taken to grant workers land rights.

A worker's family will be forced to move after losing their job because he has no land rights. There is no place in the nation where this kind of unfairness cannot be witnessed. In this regard, the state has not taken any action, the speaker claimed.

Fact: The state government has declared that each worker in a tea garden will be given the right to a plot measuring five decimals. Surveys have started in many districts to find undeveloped tea garden land for this purpose.

"There were some disagreements in the hills because the employees want ownership of the full piece of land they owned. Senior officials are investigating the situation. However, because an official decision has been made in this regard, the government's desire to grant land rights to tea workers, a long-standing demand, cannot be questioned, according to Vedabrata Dutta, Trinamul's spokesperson for the Darjeeling (plains) district.

The ruling class also questioned the BJP leaders' silence regarding the Narendra Modi administration's failure to implement the Rs 1,000 crore in aid for the welfare of women and children in the tea belts of Bengal and Assam that had been announced by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the 2021 budget.

BJP response

The BJP's chief whip in the Assembly, Manoj Tigga, stated: "As far as the central funds are concerned, the state has not sent any proposal so far."

When asked why the three BJP MLAs weren't present at the meeting, he responded, "We had invited everyone to the event, which was organized under the auspices of the BJP Trade Union Relation Cell. They might choose whether to go or not.