leader and Union minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday hit out at the ruling TMC over the “cut money” issue, alleging that people demanding the return of their money are being beaten up. She also hit out at the TMC over its opposition to the NRC, saying no Indian will be left out of the citizen roll.
Speaking at an event here, the minister for Women and Child Development said, “Those who lost the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal, their souls seems to have awakened. They have realised that their party workers take cut money. They have asked their workers to return the cut money. But when people are asking for the return of the “cut money” they are beaten up. In one case, a woman was raped for seeking the return of cut money,” Irani said without elaborating the alleged incident.
“Cut money” refers to illegal commissions people had allegedly given to TMC leaders to become eligible for various government schemes.
She also accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of stalling central government schemes in the state. “The Lok Sabha election results in West Bengal showed that people of the state want a change,” she said.
Irani also hit out at the CM over the latter’s opposition to the NRC. With the TMC holding rallies in the state against the NRC in the wake of the 19 lakh people — most of them Bengali Hindus and Gorkhas — being left out of the citizen roll in neighbouring Assam, Irani said: “No Indian will be left out (of the NRC). We are dedicated to protecting the rights of citizens. However, illegal infiltrators will be identified and dealt with according to law. CM’s stand on NRC proves her dichotomy over illegal immigrants issue. ”
TMC leader and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim said that the Union minister will “soon realise that she was wrong”. “Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi. Very soon, she will say that whatever she said was wrong,” said Hakim referring to the Hindi TV series in which Irani played a lead role before entering politics.
