Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday launched an attack at Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for blocking Centre’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi' scheme to reach the farmers of the state. Prime Minister attacked Banerjee during his address on the new farm laws, after interacting with farmers of six states. His remarks come ahead of the crucial West Bengal elections where BJP and the TMC are locked in a cut-throat battle.

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Prime Minister said that over 70 lakh farmers of West Bengal have not been able to get benefit of PM KISAN.

"More than 23 lakh farmers of Bengal have applied online to take advantage of this scheme, but the state government has stopped the verification process," he said.

Prime Minister said that the farmers of Bengal have been deprived of the benefits of the Centre's schemes and  it (Bengal) is the only state which is not allowing benefits of the schemes to reach the farmers.

“Mamata Banerjee's ideology has destroyed Bengal. Her actions against the farmers have hurt me a lot,” PM fired a direct salvo at Banerjee. He did not spare other opposition parties as well and asked “why is the Opposition quiet on this?”.

The groups who are talking about mandis, APMC are the ones who destroyed West Bengal, Kerala, PM said. There are no APMCs and mandis in Kerala. So, why are no protests in Kerala? Why don't they start a movement there? But are only misguiding the farmers of Punjab, he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday released over Rs 18,000 crore to more than nine crore farmer families under the 'Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi' (PM-KISAN).

With the push of a button, Modi enabled the transfer of money at an event which the ruling BJP has made into a mega exercise to reach out to farmers by having its leaders interact with the farming community at more than 19,000 venues across the country and also listen to the prime minister's address.