West Bengal’s latest budget has sparked a political firestorm, with BJP MP Dr. Sudhanshu Trivedi leading the charge against CM Mamata Banerjee’s administration. In a detailed New Delhi presser on Friday, Trivedi exposed what he called a dangerous tilt toward minority appeasement, neglecting the pillars of progress like industry, science, and technology.
As India races ahead with Modi’s development agenda showcased in the central budget, Bengal lags perilously behind in a quagmire of sectarian funding. A staggering 5,713 crore earmarked for madrasas and minorities starkly contrasts with 1,400 crore for commerce, 217 crore for IT, and a negligible 82 crore for scientific pursuits—allocations that mock Bengal’s storied contributions to global science via its Bose icons.
Trivedi flagged underfunding for key regions: 920 crore for the north and 810 crore for the west, far short of what’s needed for balanced growth. He raised alarms over budget lines supporting moulvis and muezzins without residency proofs, inviting opacity and potential misuse.
Referencing ex-CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s 2006 exposé on ISI-backed madrasas, Trivedi warned that such funding risks communal harmony and security. The elevation of 78 Muslim groups to OBC status, followed by hefty aids, fuels suspicions of vote-bank engineering, especially amid Mamata’s cryptic ‘fear vs love’ comments.
Trivedi’s rhetoric dismantled TMC’s ‘Maa-Mati-Manush’ pledge, branding the budget an inequitable burden on ordinary Bengalis. Confronting Mamata head-on, he interrogated the logic behind 5,700 crore for religious institutions over vital sectors. This fiscal myopia, he asserted, underscores broader alliance failures in prioritizing inclusive growth over divisive politics.