Bengal ranks at the bottom in policing, law and order, says Union minister Sitharaman

TMC says she behaved like BJP cadre; ‘mere political vendetta’

Hitting out at the West Bengal government on Sandeshkhali issue, Union Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on Tuesday, said West Bengal ranks in the bottom in terms of policing, law and order.

While attending an event in the city, Sitharaman said: “West Bengal ranks at the bottom in terms of policing and law and order. Judicial and law parameters in Bengal are the lowest. No wonder capital and industry go away from Bengal.”

On Sandeshkhali unrest, she said: “Look at the audacity of

the state administration in not arresting the culprit till today. Can any leadership, especially one headed by a female, bear with this? It is obvious that the ruling party knows where Shahjahan is. How else can they claim that he will be arrested within seven days?” She highlighted how the

Enforcement Directorate team was attacked in Sandeshkhali while raiding Shahjahan’s house. “This is how a mob takes law in their hands and the police acts as per the orders of the political masters,” she alleged.

Citing the violence that unfolded during Panchayat elections in the state, she said: “Panchayat elections saw 40 people dead. Democratic institutions are being attacked here and the TMC then accuses Prime Minister Modi for this and that,” she alleged.

TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: “Nirmala Sitharaman behaved like a BJP cadre. In MGNREGA 100 days work Bengal stood first in the country and yet the Centre took away about Rupees four lakhs sixty four thousand crore as taxes in four years but blocked Bengal’s due funds worth Rupees one lakh fifty thousand crore. This is mere political vendetta.”