Cut-Money’ Racket Over Potatoes: BJP Candidate Biman Mahato Launches Fierce Attack on Trinamool in Salboni*

 

Cut-Money’ Racket Over Potatoes: BJP Candidate Biman Mahato Launches Fierce Attack on Trinamool in Salboni*

 Reported by Sanchita chatterjee West Medinipur: Politics in the ‘Jangalmahal’ region has been heating up ever since the announcement of the election schedule. Now, BJP candidate Biman Mahato has significantly ratcheted up the political temperature in the Salboni Assembly constituency by raising explosive allegations of ‘cut-money’ directly against the ruling party, citing the plight and deprivation faced by potato farmers. He asserts unequivocally that under Trinamool’s regime, it is not the farmers who are benefiting, but rather a syndicate of looters filling their own pockets.

During his campaign in the Salboni constituency today, Biman Mahato had a chance encounter with a farmer who wished to voice his grievances. Responding to the farmer’s complaints, Mahato lashed out at the ruling party while addressing the media, declaring that the government’s procurement of potatoes from farmers is nothing short of a farce. He alleged that while farmers are crying out in desperation for a fair price, mid-level and lower-rung Trinamool leaders are extorting hefty sums—known as ‘cut-money’—from ordinary farmers under the pretext of facilitating the sale of their produce at government procurement centers. His accusation was blunt: “Trinamool stands for nothing but plunder. Leaders of the ruling party are skimming off the earnings derived from the farmers' back-breaking labor. Instead of the funds allocated for farmers going directly into their bank accounts, they are being diverted into the party’s coffers.”

Today, the BJP candidate presented an alternative vision to the farmers. He pledged that, with the BJP currently in power at the Centre—and having recently come to power in the neighboring state of Odisha—a BJP victory in Bengal would pave the way for a collaborative effort between these two governments to facilitate the direct export of Salboni’s potatoes to markets in other states. In Biman Mahato’s words: “Once our government comes to power, the black-marketing rampant in cold storage facilities will cease. We will curb the dominance of middlemen and establish a streamlined mechanism for transporting farmers' produce to other states, thereby ensuring that farmers finally reap the benefits of their hard work.”

Issuing a stern warning today, Biman Mahato declared that if the BJP assumes power, the extortion syndicates created by Trinamool within the agricultural sector will be uprooted completely. He vowed to secure a larger market for farmers by facilitating the export of potatoes to other states. Furthermore, he asserted that those who have skimmed money from the farmers' rightful earnings will be held accountable for every single penny they have misappropriated.  This scathing and fiery attack by the BJP candidate has created a massive stir among the agrarian population of Salboni. According to political analysts, Biman Mahato is seeking to strike directly at the very roots of the ruling party by weaponizing the long-standing grievances of potato farmers. Although the Trinamool has refuted these allegations, the electoral battle in Salboni has currently taken on a unique dimension, centering on two key issues: ‘cut money’ and the ‘export of produce to other states.’ It now remains to be seen whether the farmers will reflect their resentment through the ballot box.