Mamata Banerjee Announces Monthly Allowance, Free Housing for Brahmin Priests Ahead of West Bengal Polls

After facing allegations of doing “appeasement politics” ahead of state assembly polls in 2021, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday announced a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 and free housing for more than 8,000 Sanatan Brahmin priests in the state.

Banerjee, while addressing a presser, said, “We had earlier provided land to the Sanatan Brahmin sect to set up an academy at Kolaghat. Many priests in this sect are financially weak. We have decided to help them by providing them with an allowance of Rs 1,000 per month and also free housing under the state government’s housing scheme.”

“I don’t have the exact numbers of Sanatan Brahmin priests but so far we have received names of 8,000 and all of them will get their monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 from this year’s Durga Puja and they will be eligible for housing,” she continued.

She further said, “Please don’t speculate much about this move (allowance to Sanatan Brahmin priests). If a priest of a church will ask for any help, our government is always there to stand beside them.”

Moreover, she has also announced to re-launch the Hindi cell of her party and appointed TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi and Vivek Gupta as its chairman and president, respectively. Earlier, the Hindi cell of the party used to be monitored by Arjun Singh, who joined BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

Banerjee has asked all TMC members to work extensively on its Hindi Cell in District level and Block level and to engage more Hindi speaking people in government welfare schemes.

Congratulating people on the Hindi Diwas, she also said that her government respects all languages and does not have a linguistic bias.

“We respect all languages. We have decided to form anew Hindi Academy. We have also decided to set up a DalitSahitya Academy. Dalits’ languages have influence on the Bengali language,” she told reporters.

“Warm wishes on #HindiDiwas.Bengal is a land of inclusivity and through our persistent efforts we have proudly inculcated Tagore’s values of ‘Unity in Diversity’.GoWB has taken various initiatives to strengthen Hindi Education, Culture and Welfare of the community in Bengal,” she also tweeted.

(With inputs from PTI)