BJP washing machine at full spin in Bengal: Cong

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should "shed light" on why CBI and ED action against Suvendu Adhikari and Tapas Roy stalled after they joined the BJP and asked how the ruling party can make pretensions about eradicating corruption when its "washing machine" is at full spin in West Bengal. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh posed several questions to the prime minister ahead of his rallies in West Bengal.

"Does the prime minister have any solutions to the Kurmi community's demands? Can the prime minister clarify his stance on his Tamluk candidate Abhijit Ganguly's anti-national statements? Did Suvendu Adhikari's CBI case get washed away in BJP's washing machine?" Ramesh said in a post on X.

Elaborating on what he called “jumla details”, the Congress general secretary alleged that the Modi government “shamelessly” used the Kurmi community to play votebank politics without addressing any of their demands. “The community has long demanded ST (Scheduled Tribe) status but the Modi sarkar continues to drag its heels on the matter, despite the state government submitting the Cultural Research Institute report to the Centre in 2017. Their upper caste leaders have been especially dismissive of the Kurmis’ demand,” Ramesh said.

“The BJP has also repeatedly refused to recognise the Kurmis’ cultural identity, ignoring their demands to recognise their unique religious practices known as sari and sarana.

Why has the BJP deceived the Kurmis and strung them along for so many years?” he said. The Congress’ Nyay Patra guarantees a nationwide caste survey to ensure that every backward community in India has access to the opportunities they deserve, Ramesh said.

“Will the outgoing prime minister ever stop paying lip service to the Kurmi community’s cause and meaningfully commit himself to a caste census? Will he recognise the Kurmi community’s religious practices?” he asked. Ramesh further said that Justice (Retd) Ganguly’s resignation to contest elections for the BJP raised serious questions about the independence of India’s judiciary.

“Now, Mr Ganguly’s commitment to Indian nationalism has also come into question. When asked to choose between Gandhi and Godse, Mr Ganguly said he would need ‘time to think’ about this choice.