NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday announced that the state government’s job scheme ‘Karmashree’ will be renamed after Mahatma Gandhi, saying she felt “ashamed” that the Father of the Nation’s name was being removed from welfare scheme at the national level.Speaking at a public event, Banerjee said the scheme, which provides 75 to 100 days of employment, would be renamed to honour Mahatma Gandhi, asserting that the state would uphold the legacy of national leaders if the Centre fails to do so.
“We have started a scheme ‘Karmashree’, Gandhi ji name is not there. I’m really sorry, I’m ashamed. I’m feeling shame, father of the nation, MGNREGA program named after him, now the bill came Gandhi ji name won’t be there,” Banerjee said.She added, “I can’t blame anybody except me because I belong to this country. I’m feeling ashamed because we are even forgetting the father of the nation.”The CM said the scheme’s name would now be changed to reflect Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy. “So we have started a scheme called ‘Karmashree’, it’s name will be changed to Mahatma ji scheme. It will also give 75 to 100 days of job…we’re not beggars,” she said.Banerjee also took a swipe at the Centre, saying, “We only won’t respect nothing else, if you will not give respect to Mahatma ji we will.”In her address, Banerjee invoked several national leaders, what she described as Bengal’s inclusive ethos.“We know how to give respect to Mahatma ji, Neta Ji, Guru dev Rabindranath, Baba Sahaeb Ambedkar, Maulana Abul kalam, Sardar Patel, Lal Bal Pal, we love every community,” she said.The remarks come amid an ongoing political row over changes made to the name of MGNREGA, including the omission of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from official titles, which the TMC and other opposition parties have criticised.
