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The Communist Party of India-Marxist launched an attack on Rahul Gandhi for his remarks about "two Bengals" claiming that a comparison of the socio-economic indicators of Purulia with those in Rae Bareli and Amethi will tell the "real story".
Gandhi during his rally in West Bengal had described Purulia as one of the most backward parts of the country and said there exists two Bengals -- one for the rich and another for the poor. "Some parts of West Bengal like Purulia had been described as the most backward in the country. A comparison of the socio-economic indicators of Purulia with those in Rae Bareli and Amethi will tell the real story," an editorial in the CPI-M mouthpiece People's Democracy said.
The party alleged that the United Progressive Alliance government perpetuates the widening gulf between the "shining" and "suffering" India. Noting that one can understand such campaigns at the time of elections, the party said, it should be based on facts and realities. "The number of people below the poverty line in Purulia is 31 per cent compared to 54 per cent in Rae Bareli and Amethi. Likewise, families with electricity were 29 per cent compared 14 per cent ; per capita expenditure is Rs 461 compared to Rs 385; vaccinated children 84 per cent compared to 16 per cent; neo-natal deaths 46 per thousand compared to 83 per thousand; and fatality below five years 89 per thousand compared to 160 per thousand," the editorial claimed.
The party also said that the most effective way of tackling such situation is land reforms and West Bengal ranks foremost amongst all states on this score. Nearly 1.3 million acres of illegally held land was acquired and distributed among over 3 million landless and marginal cultivator households. Contrary to all adverse and hostile propaganda that the CPI-M is against the peasantry, it said, a further 16,700 acres of land were distributed to landless families between 2007 and 2010. "The Congress party today will do well to remember that it was a full seventeen years after this initiative by the Left Front in West Bengal that the panchayati raj system was adopted for the country through the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments piloted by the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi," the editorial said. "This is the hard reality between those who mouth concerns of two Indias and the Left that takes steps to provide relief, despite severe limitations imposed by our constitution on the state government's ability to raise resources," it added.