TMC's Derek O' Brien takes 'Nirma' swipe at BJP, suggests those who join party are politically cleansed

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O Brien on Thursday took a swipe at the BJP, invoking Gujarat-based entrepreneur Karsanbhai Patel, founder of Nirma, suggesting that those who join the party are politically cleansed. O Brien issued a political warning to the BJP-led central government, saying the real reply to the announcements made in the Budget would come from voters in upcoming state assembly elections.

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O' Brien on Thursday took a swipe at the BJP, invoking Gujarat-based entrepreneur Karsanbhai Patel, founder of Nirma, suggesting that those who join the party are politically ''cleansed''. Participating in the debate on the Budget 2026-27 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 used extensively by the BJP. You join the BJP and Nirma Nirma Nirma''. O' Brien issued a political warning to the BJP-led central government, saying the ''real reply'' to the announcements made in the Budget would come from voters in upcoming state assembly elections. ''The Finance Minister will reply,'' O'Brien said. ''But the real reply will come - two months' wait in Tamil Nadu, two months' wait 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 there was a 25-fold increase in the rail budget since the UPA-II era, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu witnessed a much lower rise in rail budget allocation than other states. Listing state-wise increases, he said, Gujarat has seen a 29-fold rise, 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 owed 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 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 are zero balance''. O'Brien questioned the implementation of the Prime Minister's Internship Scheme, claiming that ''for every Rs 100 kept, Rs 5 was 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? To 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.

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