Kolkata: Under frequent attack by opposition parties for ‘minority appeasement’, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced Monday monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000 and free housing for over 8,000 Hindu priests of the state. This move by Mamata Banerjee has been done keeping in mind the Assembly elections next year, said her critics. The West Bengal Assembly elections are likely to held in April–May next year.
With an eye on the Hindi-speaking electorate and tribal voters spread across West Bengal, Banerjee also said that a Hindi Academy and a Dalit Sahitya Academy would be set up by her government.
Banerjee made the announcement on ‘Hindi Diwas’, which is observed on this day annually to commemorate the adoption of Hindi as one of the official languages of India.
Opposition parties described the announcements as ‘poll gimmicks’. “We had earlier provided land to the Sanatan Brahmin sect to set up an academy at Kolaghat. Many priests in this sect are financially weak. We have decided to help them by providing them with an allowance of Rs 1,000 per month and also free housing under the state government’s housing scheme,” Banerjee said.
“I would request all of you not to find any other meaning in this announcement. It is being done to help the Brahmin priests. They will start getting the allowance from next month as it is the Durga Puja season,” the chief minister added.
The announcements came within a week of BJP president JP Nadda’s accusation that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal has an ‘anti-Hindu’ mindset and are pursuing ‘minority appeasement’ policies.
In a bid to dent the BJP’s support base among the Hindi-speaking people and the tribal areas of West Bengal, the state government also announced the setting up of a Hindi Academy and a Dalit Sahitya Academy.
“We had earlier formed a Hindi Academy after coming to power. Today we have restructured it and have decided to form a new Hindi Academy with former (TMC) Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Gupta as its chairman. We respect all languages and don’t have a linguistic bias,” Banerjee said.
Gupta is also the editor of a Hindi daily published from this city.
Banerjee also announced the 25-member board of the Academy. She also tried to reach out to the tribal electorate of the state, a large section of which voted for the BJP in Jangalmahal area, which comprises the districts of Jhargram, Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia, in the Lok Sabha poll of 2019.
“For the betterment of the languages of tribals, we have decided to form a Dalit Sahitya Academy. Dalits’ languages have influence on the Bengali language,” she said.