As the country is tiptoeing towards the General Assembly elections scheduled next year, political opponents are constantly searching for new ways to corner each other. The likely Prime Ministerial face of the United Front, Mamata Banerjee on Thursday scoffed the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gesture of gifting cows to a village during his recent visit to the African nation. She said that she would also start gifting cows in weddings.
The Chief Minister of West Bengal during her speech at the state assembly said, "I have heard that the PM is gifting cows. We should also start gifting cows at weddings." The country has witnessed multiple cases of cow vigilantism in different parts of India soon after BJP came to the power at the Centre. As per reports, more than 95 percent of cows –related violence are reported after Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of the country in the year 2014.
She also took a jibe at the BJP state president Dilip Ghosh and said "We could start by gifting one to you." Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted 200 locally sourced cows to a village in Rwanda. The cows were gifted under the 'Girinka' programme which mandates one cow for one underprivileged family. This project was rolled out by the President of Rwanda Paul Kagame in the year 2006 to tackle poverty and malnutrition of children in the African countries.
Dilip Ghosh unveiled some startling statistics that projected the snail-paced growth of the fishery sector in Bengal in comparison to states like Andhra Pradesh. AP has witnessed a massive surge in fish production and the sector witnessed a growth of 133 percent, on the other hand, West Bengal has witnessed a minuscule growth of 10 percent in last 10 years.
Andhra Pradesh is not only a major producer of fish they are the prime supplier of fish the West Bengal market. The state is unable to produce adequate fish to support the total demand of the market.
The Chief Minister of the state applauded the fisheries department for its spectacular performance and for improving for developing pisciculture in the state to meet the rising demand for fish. She slammed Dilip Ghosh for making a statement before knowing the ground reality. She said, "Should know the state well before making such remarks". She defended the allegations of Ghosh and explained to the Assembly that fish consumption in this part of India is high as fish is a prime part of the Bengali cuisine. To corner her opponent Mamata, said, "So what do you (Mr Ghosh) want to say? Will the poor stop eating fish? Or meat? Are you (BJP) giving such directions?"
