Senior West Bengal minister Firhad Hakim asserted on Monday that while some TMC leaders have engaged in corrupt activities, this does not imply that the party as a whole is corrupt.
Hakim, a powerful figure in the administration with several positions and a close relationship with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, stated that those in positions of authority who accept payment for “giving” jobs to people would be better off “eating the flesh of their mothers.”
The statement was made amid the arrests of numerous state ministers and TMC leaders for irregularities related to school recruitment.
“Yes, there are some people who have indulged in corruption, but that doesn’t mean that the entire party is corrupt,” Hakim, who is the state’s urban development minister and the mayor of Kolkata, said.
“Those who have indulged in corruption in the recruitment scam are sinners. Such sinners should rather have the flesh of their mothers than take money in exchange for providing jobs to unemployed youths,” he said.
Hakim’s remark provoked strong responses from his party as well as from the opposition.
Speaking on behalf of the TMC, Kunal Ghosh remarked, “What was he doing when the corruption was happening? Why had he not spoken then? It’s absurd that they’re trying to act as though some people are highly honest.”
Hakim’s remarks, according to senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh, were a ruse to “fool the people of the state” in advance of the Lok Sabha elections.
“When corruption was happening, everybody was busy having their share of the flesh. Now, ahead of the elections, they are behaving as if they knew nothing,” Ghosh said.
PTI
