December 16, 2025
Md Nadimul Haque’s speech on The Appropriation (No. 4) Bill, 2025
Mr. Vice-Chairman, Sir, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak on this Bill. On behalf of my Party, All India Trinamool Congress, I would like to share with the House three poems by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore to tell what this Government has missed in this Appropriation Bill. Sir, I will start with the first poem, ‘Where the Man is Without Fear’. The poem talks about how citizens will live without fear of the Government bulldozing on their rights and hurting their dignity. Are the citizens living without this fear? On the other hand, what do we see? This Bill has no money for MNREGA. This Bill has no money for the dues owed to the State of West Bengal, which are as follows: Rs. 52,000 crores under MNREGA, Rs. 43,500 crores under various Disaster Relief Funds, Rs. 19,000 crore under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan and more than Rs. 2,500 crores under Jal Jeevan Mission. In total, over Rs. 2,00,000 crore are due to the State of West Bengal under different schemes. How can we say the dignity of the people has not been hurt by this Government? How can we talk about rights not being neglected when the zamindars have such a Bangla-virodhi mindset? In answer to the questions asked by us, they have not given any timelines for the resumption of MNREGA. They have committed contempt of court. They have disobeyed the orders passed by the High Court and the Supreme Court. Sir, the next poem is ‘Dui Bigha Jomi’. The poem talks about the plight of a marginalized farmer, who lost his two bighas of ancestral lands to the zamindars. Today, the zamindars — I need not say who the zamindars are, everybody knows — have led the country to such a situation that nearly 30 farmers are committing suicide daily. An agricultural labourer earns only about Rs. 266 per day, yet zero amount has been given in this Bill for them. In fact, this Government has given fertile land of our farmers to big corporate houses for very few rupees. At one or two rupee rate, hundreds of acres of land have been given to them. Do not forget that nearly half of the workforce is engaged in agriculture. Sir, they have failed our Annadatas, they have failed to even double their income. However, learn from Bengal. We have not only doubled but tripled the farmers’ income. I would like to conclude with the third poem ‘Ekla Chalo Re’. The poem has a line, and, I quote, “If they answer not to thy call, walk alone.” That is what is happening with the zamindars calling Bangla language Bangladeshi. This is what has happened with … You may not take the responsibility but our leader, Mamata Banerjee, will stand by the Maa, Mati, Manush. In this Appropriation Bill, the Ministry of Home Affairs has got more than half of the entire annual Budget. However, I want to ask where is this money going? Is it really going towards national security? The Home Minister does not own up to the failure in securing the borders. He shifts the blame on the West Bengal Government. The reality is different from what he claims. The responsibility to safeguard the border lies with him. In fact, in 2021, the BSF’s jurisdiction was expanded from 15 kms. to 50 kms. including in West Bengal. The poem ‘Ekla Chalo Re’ resembles the state of youth in this country. One in three youth is not in employment, education or training, with women comprising an overwhelming nine out of ten amongst them. The youth unemployment rate is at 15 per cent between April and October, 2025. The situation is even far worse for the young urban women, as one out of every four is unemployed. The much advertised PM Internship Scheme has also failed. Only 4 per cent of the applicants who applied for the internships are actually interning. For the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, this figure stands at just 1.4 per cent. Sir, BJP may try to deprive Bengal by holding our dues, calling us Bangladeshi and turning national security into a slogan, but, as I said, ‘Bengal will walk alone’ to protect its people, its language, its composite culture and the Constitution. ‘Bengal will not stop’. Vande Mataram! Jai Hind! Jai Bangla!
