Mamata Banerjee's development projects draw attention in other states

Kolkata: The results of the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections have undoubtedly helped Mamata Banerjee to accelerate her national popularity and attention. The different development projects of the West Bengal government are now being discussed at the national level like that of the Gujarat model.

Mamata Banerjee came to power in 2011 riding on her successes in leading the farmers' movement in the state. Ten years have passed since then. During this period she introduced several developmental but populist projects in the state, some of which received accolades both at the national and international levels. But the two projects that have really caught the attention of the common people and even the rulers of other states are those introduced by her after her victory in the recently concluded West Bengal polls. These two projects are Students' Credit Card and Lakkhir Bhandar, a monthly pocket money scheme for the women members of a family.

Last Wednesday, the speaker of the Delhi Assembly, Ramnivas Goyal came on a tour of the West Bengal assembly. There he expressed keen interest in the Lakkhir Bhandar project, which Mamata Banerjee introduced soon after taking charge as the chief minister for the third consecutive term. A total of Rs 12,900 crore has been allotted for the project.

Under this scheme, a woman in the general category will be entitled to a monthly stipend of Rs 500 while those from the backward class category will be entitled to Rs 1,000 a month. Goyal sought detailed information about this project from the West Bengal assembly speaker, Biman Bandopadhyay. The Delhi assembly speaker also enquired about the projects like Kanyashri.

Similarly, another project that drew attention among students in other states is West Bengal Students' Credit Card scheme. As per the latest statistics of the state's higher education department already over 12,0000 students from other states have applied for the scheme. The maximum number of applications have come from the south Indian state of Karnataka at 9,000. The numbers for Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh stand at 900, 300, 600 and 330 respectively. The number of applicants from Delhi and Tamil Nadu are the same at 280.

Political analyst and the former registrar of the Calcutta University, Raja Gopal Dhar Chakraborty said, "Undoubtedly the interest for Mamata Banerjee among the common people has skyrocketed pan-India. There might be enough room for criticism, but it is true that this skyrocketing interest is essentially due to the developmental but populist projects launched by her. So it is natural that these projects have created some kind of interest among the common people as well as the rulers of other states."

However, renowned political scientist and former principal of the-then Presidency College, Dr Amal Kumar Mukhopadhyay feels that although such projects draw attention and interest among common people about a particular political personality, but such projects do not have the potential to bring long-term benefits.