New Delhi, February 12 Trinamool Congress MP Derek O' Brien on Thursday criticized the BJP, invoking Gujarat-based entrepreneur Karsanbhai Patel, the founder of Nirma, suggesting that those who join the party are politically "cleansed".
Participating in the debate on the 2026-27 Budget in the Rajya Sabha, the TMC member said, "One of the great entrepreneurs of Gujarat...was Karsanbhai Patel. He created a great Indian brand, Nirma. But now that washing powder, Nirma, is being extensively used by the BJP. If you join the BJP, you get Nirma, Nirma, Nirma."
O' Brien issued a political warning to the BJP-led central government, saying that the "real response" to the announcements made in the Budget would come from voters in the upcoming state assembly elections.
"The Finance Minister will respond," O' Brien said. "But the real response will come – two months in Tamil Nadu, two months in Kerala, Bengal...will come in February 2027, when, led by Akhilesh Yadav, the people of Uttar Pradesh will also speak," he said.
He also questioned the distribution of railway budget allocation funds across states, highlighting that while the rail budget had increased 25-fold since the UPA-II era, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu had seen a much lower increase in rail budget allocation than other states.
Listing state-wise increases, he said, Gujarat has seen a 29-fold increase, Delhi 28 times, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh 24 times, Maharashtra 20 times and Uttar Pradesh 18 times.
"Tamil Nadu eight times. And you love Bengal so much – three times," he said, alleging that the Centre owes West Bengal Rs 2 lakh crore.
The TMC MP claimed there was "nothing in the Budget about environment and air pollution" and that posts in the Minority Commission remained unfilled.
"All of us are saying that farmers are unhappy," he said, taking a dig at the government, "The farmers are happy in Texas, not in Tamil Nadu. The farmers are happy in Kentucky but not in Karnataka, and the farmers are happy in Wisconsin, not in West Bengal." He claimed that "four out of five Jan Dhan accounts are non-operational" and "one out of 10 Jan Dhan accounts has a zero balance".
O' Brien questioned the implementation of the Prime Minister's Internship Scheme, claiming that "for every Rs 100 kept, only Rs 5 was being utilised".
On employment, he said, "one out of three youth are not in education, employment or training" nationally, while asserting that West Bengal had the "fifth lowest" unemployment rate among states.
Earlier in his speech, O' Brien urged viewers to search the Budget speech for references to the "middle class" and "unemployment".
"Four out of five Indians are earning less than Rs 171 per day. Net household savings have fallen to the lowest in the last 50 years," he said, questioning the government's claims of support for the middle class.
He also criticised the push for digital compliance in rural welfare schemes.
"Five out of 10 people living in rural India do not have proper access to the internet, and yet we are asking MGNREGA workers to go online, to use apps to mark attendance, to link bank accounts, to do e-KYC, Why? So that they can get their wages," O' Brien said.
Invoking "true federalism", he argued that while the Centre need not copy state schemes, several flagship welfare programmes had drawn inspiration from West Bengal initiatives such as Kanyashri and Swasthya Saathi.
