Eye on West Bengal polls, Mamata Banerjee announces allowance, free housing for poor Sanatan Brahmin priests

Banerjee also slammed the Centre over the move to arrest Umar Khalid and said that all those who participated in the movement against CAA and NRC are being

Key Highlights

• Banerjee also announced the decision to establish a Hindi academy

• She slammed the Centre over Umar Khalid's arrest, but said that action should be taken against those found guilty

Kolkata: With an eye on West Bengal polls, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Monday made a plethora of announcements for the Sanatan Brahmin priests of the state. The state goes to polls in 2021. Among most prominent announcements was a monthly allowance of Rs 1000 and free housing for over 8000 poor priests in the state.

"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," Banerjee said.

Mamata says we respect all languages, slams Centre over Umar Khalid

Earlier, Banerjee congratulated people on the occasion of Hindi Diwas and clarified that the state government respects all languages and hold no linguistic bias.

"We respect all languages. We have decided to form a new Hindi Academy. We have also decided to set up a Dalit Sahitya Academy. Dalits' languages have an influence on the Bengali language," Banerjee told reporters. 

Earlier during the day, Banerjee also slammed the BJP government at the Centre and alleged that those involved in movements against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC) are being targetted.

Adding that action should be taken against Khalid if there is evidence of wrongdoing, Banerjee said, "I too have seen it (the news of Khalid's arrest) in newspapers. First, they (the Centre) had named Sitaram Yechuri in the charge sheet and now they have removed it. But, they have put the names of Yogendra Yadav and others (in the charge sheet)... This is not right in a democracy. If someone has done something wrong and you have evidence of it then action should be taken as per law."