February 3, 2025
Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar’s speech during the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address
Sir, thank you. I stand here on behalf of All India Trinamool Congress and my leader, Ms. Mamata Banerjee, to take part in the Motion of Thanks on the speech addressed to both the Houses by Mahamahim Rashtrapati ji, Shrimati Droupadi Murmu ji. Today is Basant Panchami, so, I also express my greetings to all Members here and to all the citizens, and I wish there was a holiday for us. हम इममीनान सेपूजा करते, लेककन वह नहीं हुआ। I am a very religious person, a devout Hindu, but I believe and respect all religions, and that is why, like me, there were millions of Indians who were preparing for the Maha Kumbh Mela that was supposed to take place after 144 years. Some of the poor people were saving money to go and take the maha snan on the Mauni Amavasya. Sad to say, Mahamahim Rashtrapati ji, in her message, spent only 61 words to express her sorrow and has not condemned the death, has not given condolence message to the families of the dead. We are very sorry for it because she has totally neglected the dead people. There is definitely a discrepancy between the number of dead bodies in the morgues as said by the doctors and the number of dead bodies or the people missing that we see. The same thing had happened in the State during the COVID-19 times. So, in this State how much ever the advertisement they did, but as far as the preparedness is concerned, disaster management is concerned, they have failed. They are giving zero because they should not be given this kind of a responsibility where they play with the lives of the common man like this. After we go on to her speech where she mentions about the middle-class, you know the National Council of Applied Economic Research says that 30 per cent of the total population of India belongs to the middle-class. We had the Budget on the next day in which a lot of promises were made. Who is the middleclass? People who earn between Rs.2 lakh and Rs.10 lakh per year are supposed to be the middle class. But what about inflation? What about food inflation? What about support to the farmers? What about waiving of the loans for the farmers? Nothing is mentioned in the speech of Mahamahim Rashtrapati ji. I am sorry to say that loans of the multinationals and the billionaires have been waived by the banks but not that of the farmers. This is absolutely unwarranted in a country where we depend on the farmers for our food. We live in the cities. We do not grow our foods. The farmers do. They toil in and out. They were sitting at the Singhu border. In the border, they were tortured, but they were not given the waivers. Iिwouldिalsoिlikeिtoिdrawिattentionिtoिtheिhon.िRashtrapatiिji’sिspeechिwhereि she talks about teaching. She says that the number of colleges has been increased; the number of universities has been increased. But is it not an irony that there are no teachers? The number of teachers has not been increased and the amount is absolutely ridiculous. What is being taught in certain States? I do not want to name those States because there also, as in the Maha Kumbh, there is failure. In the same State, teaching is such a failure. The teachers do not know how to add nine plus thirteen, what to talk about the students. Mahamahim Rashtrapati ji talks about the medicines where she says that some drugs have been made customs duty free. That is definitely welcome. But there are many, many other drugs which need to be made custom duty free. Also, there are certain equipment because only medicines do not help patients. Some of the equipment that are being used for the patients in different hospitals of the country are charged 300 per cent customs duty. But nothing is happening. I would just like to draw the attention of Mahamahim Rashtrapati ji. * “Lifeिofिaिhumanिbeingिisिnotिmeasuredिinिyearsिorिdays.ििTheirिworkिisि the yardstickिforिthis.” It should be realised that the work we do, the work we do for people is more important than the statistics we give. Here,िitिisिsaidि‘HousingिforिAll’.ििAिhugeिnumberिisिbeingिpromisedिforि three-crore families with a budget of Rs.5,36,000 crore. But I would like to draw the attention of this august House and also Mahamahim Rashtrapati ji that more than 11 lakh families in West Bengal are suffering and spending their nights under the open sky since 2022. When these families received sanction after we applied, more than 60 teams went from the Central Government and they checked all the data. An Action Taken Report was also sent from the State of WestिBengalिforिthisिmoneyिtoिgo,िtheिCentralिGovernment’sिpartिofिtheिmoney,ि to more than 11 lakh families. It appears that there is some kind of an economic blockade or some kind of an economic betrayal for West Bengal from the Central Government. This has not been mentioned here. This is for the Awas Yojana. We are requesting again for these people and for the common men. The poor person, who is spending with his family under the open sky, has done no mistake and he is not a political person. Why did they spite on him? It is because people of West Bengal have never voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party and they have always defeated. So, this is not the right thing to do. She has said that there is a multi-fold increase in the number of seats in medical colleges. Well, it has definitely increased. But sometimes, the college fees are exorbitant. She is saying that there is a neo middle-class which is coming up. There is no middle-class at all. It is because of the inflation that the middle-class is shrinking; the middle-class cannot afford to pay the bills; the middle-class cannot afford to buy the fuel; and the middle-class cannot afford to buy food. There is food inflation in the country. And the Government has done nothing to take care of the middle-class. Ms. Mamata Banerjee, my leader, has been taking care of the people by giving them free food, free education, and free clothes. The whole country should follow her example. You beat a lot of drums when you say that the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was passed. Yes, it was passed in this august House. But when the elections came, we did not see so many ladies coming from the Bharatiya Janata Party, neither during nomination nor being present in the House. The only political Party in the country, which has fielded women and which has more than 33 per cent women, is the All India Trinamool Congress. It is due to Ms. Mamata Banerjee. She respects women. She has brought them here. Not only here, but also, in the local bodies and in each step of the administration, she is giving respect to the women and she is bringing them to the mainstream. Somebody might stand up from there and say that you cannot take her name as she is not the Member of the House. She is the Chief Minister of West Bengal. She is taking care of the poor. She is taking care of the Dalits. She is taking care of the women. She is taking care of the children. But look at the state of affairs here where the Adivasis are neglected and all the other poor people are neglected. The Awas Yojana has not reached those people. The sanction was given in 2022 but till now, in 2025, the poor people have not received it. In the speech, she lauds the daughters of the country by saying that they bring us medals. That is appreciable. But let me tell you that these golden girls हमारी सरताज हैं। इस परहमेंनाज है। But the hon. MP, sitting here, molested them. He was not punished. It is so shameful that his son has come back here. So, does it show that the women are respected; that the golden girls are respected; and that the sports women are respected, by this Government? So, the speech is absolutely wrongly written. I would request that when the speech is written, then they should consider what they are writing for the Mahamahim Rashtrapati ji because it is coming out from the highest Office. People are listening to her. They should not feed her with wrong information which goes against the ethos of our Constitution. Just now, the LoP was speaking about the Constitution of India. At every step, the Constitution is not respected. We must keep in mind that our Constitution forms the backbone, and our country became Independent in 1947 and not last year in 2024. Any person can have their own religious belief. I am a devout Hindu but I respect all religions, and we celebrate all festivities. Like my leader, Ms. Mamata Banerjeeिsays,ि“Dharmo Jar Jar, Utsav Sobar”.िEverybodyिcanिtakeिpart.िSo,ि when they did this, they should not have spoken like that. That is disrespecting the Constitution. You should not be doing it. The Global Hunger Index puts our country at 105th rank out of 127 countries. The index is 27.3. About child wasting, it is the highest in the world. The children of different States are not getting enough to eat. During the 2014 elections, a lot of jobs were promised. Where are those jobs now? Sir, 46 per cent of unemployment is there in the country. Out of the total population, 28 per cent of the population is between the age of 15-29 years looking for jobs and you will be astonished Sir that more the education, more the joblessness. A graduate is more akin to get jobless than an unskilled labour. Persons, who have passed graduation, postgraduation, Ph.D., are applying for menial labour or unskilled labour. When the advertisement is coming for such jobs, they are applying because there is no job. It is like the LOP was saying that there is no projection for production and for having more production. There is a telephone Public Sector company where 48,000 people lost their jobs. Was it done just to let one private telephone communication company thrive? Those 48000 people, who lost their jobs, were working in private sector but the Government did not take care of them. Foreign Direct Investment has entered into insurance where people keep their hard-earned money. A person gets it at the end of the day or when he is not there, his family gets it. So, you have the FDI coming into that. You have the FDI coming into seeds. When the Seed Bill was passed, the farmers protested. Nobody listened to them. Is this a democracy where nobody listens to the common people? And you just go on passing Bills. We also protested when the common NEET was brought. It was National Eligibility Entrance Test. We requested let it happen in regional languages throughout the country because students used to study in their mother tongue and when they are applying for it in Class XI and XII standards, let them sit and write in their own language. But the Government did not listen. They have a common test for which many poor students cannot apply for the NEET. So, this also should be undone and they should be allowed to sit and write exam in their own mother tongue. When this initiative is giving rise to digital commerce, well, it is appreciable. But do you know how many lakhs of crores of rupees have been lost by people? Either the message comes on the Whatsapp or the message comes in email or there is a phone call saying your electric bill is due, you either pay just now by pressing zero. And as soon as you press zero, all your bank accounts get empty. Lakhs of crores of rupees have been lost by people through this cybercrime. Who are these people operating this nexus or this cybercrime? It is sometimes from outside the country also. I am to understand from very reliable sources, I do not want to quote because we are not supposed to discuss Committee things outside. We have about 500 students of IIT, different IIT engineers, trying to find out who is operating this from where, from which part of the country and which part of the world. We know some places. I do not want to say this here but they are operating like this and they are siphoning off money fromिpeople’sिbank accounts. This cybercrime is taking place at a large scale. A video call from some people comes and somebody puts on the phone to talk. That picture is taken and superimposed and then, he is black-mailed. So, these things are happening. The cybercrime is destroying the peace of the country. The sanctity of the ladies of the country is being destroyed. What is the Government doing for that? So, they were not prepared before they started this online transaction. Without learning how to swim, they jumped into the pool. And that is why, people are getting this kind of messages. So, we would request that the Government should take up cybercrime very seriously and look at it, so that the people do not lose their hard-earned money. So, we would like also to request about the Eastern side. There are eight States. Not one word was used to talk about Manipur. For one whole year, Manipur is burning. More than that, houses have burned in Manipur. Ladies have been gangraped. Children have been born in the camps, and none of our hon. Ministers, not our Prime Minister had the time. He has time to visit the States where there is election. But he has no time to go to Manipur where our hon. Chief Minister, Shrimati Mamata Banerjee sent a team. We went there and saw how babies are in the makeshift relief camps. There is no baby food. More than 6,000 houses have been burnt. There is an ethnic war going on and there was not a single word about how many square kilometres of India is occupied by foreigners. I do not want to name but foreign power is occupying parts of Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Ladakh. Why should we allow my motherland be occupied by foreigners and bow down to them? Do we not have the courage to stand up and protect my motherland? Thank you, Sir
