Mamata woos city youth with job vow

While addressing the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad the Trinamool chief made it clear that it was her party that had taken the lead in efforts to oust the ruling Left from West Bengal. “Had I not set up the Trinamool Congress, the CPM would not have faced reverses,” Ms. Mamata Banerjee said. It was clear that she wanted to touch upon a raw nerve among the students gathered around her. “I know that 30 years have gone to waste, with the CPM doing nothing to create job opportunities. Many have left the state and even the country in search of jobs and research facilities. We shall get them back. I have planned a number of industrial projects in the state just in a year. More opportunities for jobs and research will emerge. I will appeal to the youngsters who had left to return,” the railway minister said. Accusing CPM of rampant corruption and failure to implement development projects in rural areas, the Trinamool supremo said that people across the country have now started to realise that she was right while opposing “forcible land acquisition” at Nandigram and Singur. “The people’s movement has moved from Nandigram to Aligarh. Very soon, there will be necessary changes in laws related to land acquisition. CPM does not know how to work. I have proved that industry can be set up without forcibly acquiring land,” she said. According to her, CPM’s role in Friday’s violence at Baghajatin was shameful. “How can CPM demand the participation of outsiders in elections for a certain borough? Just because we don’t call bandhs or organise roadblocks, don’t consider us weak. On September 1, we shall organise Lajja Dibas (day of shame) at Baghajatin to protest Friday’s incident,” she said.