Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: As Maharashtra entered poll mode, the Congress on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of taking out important projects and government offices out of the state.
The attacks came on a day when Modi, accompanied by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, inaugurated the Tata-Airbus C-295 aircraft manufacturing facility in Vadodara.
“This exact same project was supposed to be set up in Nagpur, but was shifted to Gujarat in 2022 on the eve of the assembly elections there. One can only imagine the machinations that went on behind the scenes to ensure that Maharashtra lost out on this key investment,” said Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh, the AICC General Secretary in-charge Communications.
Citing other examples, he said the International Financial Services Center (IFSC) has been set up only in GIFT City in Gujarat. “Then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in 2006 had begun the effort to set it up in Mumbai. Land in Bandra Kurla Complex had already been set aside for the IFSC. But that was sabotaged, costing Mumbai potentially 2 lakh jobs,” he said.
“Mumbai and Surat have worked together to develop India’s diamond industry for decades, with Surat handling cutting and polishing, and Mumbai handling trading and export. However, a new Bharat Diamond Bourse was built in Surat. It is another matter that this move has failed entirely, with many diamond merchants moving their operations back to Mumbai,” he added.
“In addition to the Tata-Airbus manufacturing plant, the (now-failed) Vedanta-Foxconn chip factory was also diverted from Maharashtra to Gujarat.The Textile Commissionerate Office, based in Mumbai for 80+ years, was suddenly shifted to Delhi last year, for no clear reason whatsoever, despite the fact that the Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR) remains a huge hub of textiles,” the former union minister said in a post on X.
The Dattopant Thengadi National Board for Workers Education & Development was also shifted from Nagpur to Delhi in 2021, as per Ramesh.
The government sat on the demand for classical language status to Marathi for ten years, only moving to ensure it on the eve of the Assembly elections - after sustained pressure from the Indian National Congress and civil society organisations in Maharashtra, Ramesh alleged.
He said the Congress and the Maha Vikas Aghadi do not believe in playing favourites - we believe in the equitable development of the entire country.
“New infrastructure projects, special investment zones, and modern industry should benefit all Indians, and not one state alone. When the industrialisation of Gujarat was underway in the 1970s and 80s, projects like Gujarat State Fertilisers and Chemicals Limited (GSFC), Gujarat Refinery, and IPCL were set up without taking away projects from other states,” he added.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
Subscribe and follow DH on Whatsapp, X, Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to never miss out on anything.