Saradha scam knocks at Mamata's door: Is it making Didi lose her cool?

On Teachers Day, before students , teachers and parents could hear Prime Minister Narendra Modi address on the occasion, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee addressed teachers and students at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Friday and gave some very important lessons too the people assembled there.

What did Mamata Banerjee say?

"It contributes nothing to society and plays only a destructive role by spreading lies. West Bengal is going through a dark phase (as) a section of the media is running a smear campaign against it. Earlier, the media was considered as the mirror of society but, sadly, it is not performing its duty now. It has crossed all limits," she said.

Mamata said if out of 100 mangoes in a basket, one is found rotten, then it does not mean the rest of them are rotten too. "Only the rotten one has to be discarded."

"This isn't constructive but destructive. A section of media is running malicious smear campaign against Bengal. Some people are only harping on the negatives. This is not the culture of Bengal. We have to be positive and constructive. Earlier, the media used to tell people the truth."

"A section of the media is crossing all limits to create a division among students and teachers, among authorities in educational institutions and parents, but they will not succeed in spreading canards and suppressing the real facts," the chief minister said.

"This is not the real picture of the state. We have improved a lot in the last three years. There may be some scattered incidents, but they can't be generalised. Police and administration are there to look into them.

Mamata Didi's hatred towards media

An Indianexpress report said, "The crux of her message to the schoolchildren of various classes was: "Beware of the media. It is out to malign and destroy our government and the society."
In an address that lasted over an hour, the media repeatedly figured in the Chief Minister's line of attack."

Is didi miffed at media because media recently it came to fore that the strings of multi-crore Saradha scam are also attached to the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and media reported about it?

Few days back media reports suggested that the scma has now come knocking at TMC supremo's door.

An NDTV report had said, "Back in 2010, when Ms Banerjee was the Union Railway minister, the Saradha Group had bagged a contract with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation, or IRCTC. It puts out of court her claims that she was not too familiar with the group till it went bust in 2013.

The deal involved Ms Banerjee's pet project, the 'Bharat Tirth' programme, a 16-train service to 10 pilgrimage centres that offered low-budget travel, accommodation and food. Saradha was one of several companies that had tied up with the IRCTC to offer tour packages."

Earlier also many allegations had been raised about the links between Saradha group and TMC.

TMC has denied any charges on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying that it is open to any kind of probe.

Last week, questioning the success rate of CBI in solving cases, Mamata Banerjee had described investigation by the agency into Saradha Chit Fund scam as a ploy to save the real culprits and use it to defame the state government.

"You can check the records, the success rate of CBI is very poor. CBI has been used by the party that is at the Centre to corner its political opponents by using malicious and pressure tactics," Banerjee had said.

The surging crime graph in West Bengal

As per National Crime Records Bureau data, West Bengal earned the dubious distinction of leading a list of states where crime against women in 2011 was highest. With 7.5 per cent share of the country's population, West Bengal accounted for nearly 12.7 per cent of total crime against women by reporting 29,133 cases.

Not only in 2011 even in 2012, West Bengal reported 2,046 rape cases which was again highest in the country.

Mamata Didi, this is just an example which makes clearly it evident that how much the state has progressed and how the crime rates have gone up rather than moving southwards. By merely criticising media and by saying that beware of media because it tells lies, the truth will not change. Rather than criticising media, your government should take action and stop these crimes from rising.