Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s frequent foreign trips, Banerjee claimed that the country has not profited from his visits abroad.
“I ask them why so many farmers have committed suicide in Rajasthan and Maharashtra,” which have Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments, she told the media in this Italian city where she has come scouring for investments for her state.
“They also have a government in Uttar Pradesh. Why is that hundreds of people are killed there in the name of encounters? Why are people being lynched there?”
Banerjee said people aren’t aware of such happenings (in BJP-ruled states) because the “national media is silent”.
“Wherever they have a government, people have been murdered in thousands, the number of unemployed has shot up,” she said.
Asked about her visits abroad to scour investments for Bengal, Banerjee replied: I don’t go abroad often, only once a year, and that too to draw investments for our annual investors’ meet Bengal Global Business summit.
“On the other hand, Narendra Modi goes abroad 365 times every year. But the country has not profited from any of his tours,” she said.
“Nobody dares to question Modi about her trips. Some chief ministers have their own planes. But I travel in regular flights,” she said.
–IANS
ssp/prs