India’s financial condition worse than Sri Lanka, says Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday that India’s financial condition is worse than Sri Lanka and urged the Centre to call for an all-party meeting to address it.

“India’s economic condition is very bad. In Sri Lanka, people have hit the streets in protest. The financial condition is bad. The financial condition of India is worse,” Banerjee said, while adding that she was not comparing India with Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is currently facing its worst economic crisis in decades. The Mahinda Rajapaksa government is struggling to pay for essential imports after a 70 per cent drop in foreign exchange reserves over two years triggered a currency-devaluation.

“I think that the Centre should call for an all-party meeting and find a solution on how to sail over the crisis instead of using central agencies and forcefully trying to control the democracy,” the chief minister said.

She was speaking to the media at the state secretariat after giving appointment letters to the family members of the victims of Birbhum massacre.

Sri Lanka has declared an emergency and the country’s President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has invited all political parties in the country to join the ‘unity government’ to find a solution.

“There is no planning. Fuel prices have been hiked 11 times in 13 days. The interest on Provident Fund has been slashed. From railways to banks, everything is being sold off. Several states have not received their share of GST,” she added.

Banerjee said that she has received a communication from Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel complaining that the Centre was not paying the state’s share of Goods and Services Tax.

Banerjee also upped her ante against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre over the crisis faced by medical students after returning from war-torn Ukraine.

“The government has no money for students who returned from Ukraine. Why isn’t the Centre giving permission to the students to continue their studies? I had written to the Centre. It is my bad luck. Had we been there (at the Centre) we would have taken one minute to clear it,” said Banerjee.

Around 22,500 students have returned to the country from Ukraine, the Rajya Sabha was informed in March by the external affairs minister S Jaishankar.

In March, Banerjee wrote letters to non-BJP chief ministers and opposition parties calling for a meeting even as she alleged that the BJP was using central agencies to “target, harass and corner political opponents across the country”.

“Several chief ministers are complaining. Hemant Soren, chief minister of Jharkhand had said that he was not receiving the GST share. Chief ministers of Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh are having problems with the states’ Governors. All states must come together. If there is some coordination between states then we can raise our demands,” she added.