New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal on Thursday appointed Gita Mahali as a home guard, the tribal woman at whose residence Union Home Minister Amit Shah had lunch in April 2017.
This comes at a time when Shah is scheduled to have lunch at another tribal’s house in Bankura today during his visit to the state.
A delegation of the Trinamool Congress headed by its Darjeeling district president Ranjan Sarkar today went to the house of Raju and Gita Mahali, the tribal couple in Katiyajote of Nakshalbari, which is 35 km away from Siliguri. They announced the appointment of Mahali as a home guard.
Sarkar claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had given “false assurance” and alleged that no one came to the couple from the “saffron party” during the time of lockdown.
“Today, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who always looks after her people, has appointed Gita Mahali as home guard posted at Nakshalbari police station. It is very good news and it will help them a lot,” Ranjan Sarkar said.
Gita Mahali, on the other hand, also expressed happiness over the development and said, “I am happy and the job will help us to run our family.” However, she reserved her words when asked about the assistance from the BJP.
Responding to the development, BJP Siliguri district president Praveen Agarwal congratulated Mahali on the job and accused the TMC of “selective politics”, in a clear reference to the tribal couple joining the latter’s party in 2017.
“If the state government provides job to those at whose house we have lunch. Then we will have lunch at every house so that everyone gets employment. The state government had also given Rs 50,000 cheques to all Durga Puja clubs. Those cheques have bounced. I urge Gita ji to ensure her job also doesn’t bounce,” Agarwal said.
The tribal couple in Nakshalbari had hosted Home Minister and then BJP president Amit Shah at their residence on April 25, 2017, and had lunch with him. However, the couple had later reportedly joined the block office of the ruling TMC.
