Kolkata, (Samajweekly) A detailed analysis of assets declared by candidates in the West Bengal Assembly polls show that nine of the 10 MLAs who had the highest increase in the last five years are from the ruling Trinamool Congress. Though party MLAs amassed huge property, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, interestingly, had a negative growth in the last five years.
In a detailed study made by Association for Democratic Reforms on the acquisition of wealth by MLAs, West Bengal Minister of State for Labour Jakir Hossain, who was recently injured in a bomb attack at Nimtita station in Murshidabad, tops the list with 184 per cent rise in assets in respect to his assets declared in 2016.
In 2016, Hossain declared in his affidavit that he had net assets worth Rs 28.04 crore and in 2021, these amounted to a whopping Rs 67.22 crore, registering a net increase of Rs 39.18 crore. The Trinamool MLA from Jangipur in Murshidabad declared that he makes his earnings from business.
State Disaster Management Minister Jawed Ahmed Khan had a net increase of property worth Rs 15.03 crore in the last five years. The declaration made by Khan shows that in 2016, he had assets worth Rs 17.29 crore but these rose to Rs 32.33 crore within a span of five years, registering an increase of 87 per cent.
Similarly Urban Development Minister and former Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Firhad Hakim had an increase of 123 per per cent in his assets in the last five years. Hakim, who makes his earning as a businessman, declared assets worth Rs 5.97 crore in 2016 but they now amount to Rs 13.34 crore, registering an increase of Rs 7.36 crore in the last five years.
Subrata Saha, an MLA from Jangipur and a minister without portfolio, has reported an increase of Rs 6.37 crore in the last five years. In 2016, his assets amounted to Rs 1.64 crore and these rose to Rs 8.02 crore, registering an upward swing of 38 per cent in the last five years.
Similarly, state Correctional Administration Minister Ujjwal Biswas and state Food Minister Jyotipriaya Mullick had an increase of 234 per cent and 316 per cent, respectively, in their assets in the last five years.
Biswas’ assets touched Rs 7.30 crore from Rs 2.18 crore showing an increase of Rs 5.11 crore since 2016. Similarly, Mullick’s assets show a whopping increase of Rs 4.77 crore from Rs 1.51 crore in 2016 to Rs 6.28 crore in 2021.
Interestingly enough despite the growth of property of her ministers and MLAs, the asset declaration of Chief Minister Banerjee shows that in the last five years, her asset had grown negatively. Though in 2016, she had assets worth Rs 30.45 lakh, in 2021, these has come down to Rs 16.72 lakh, showing a net decrease of Rs 13.72 lakh. In these five years, her assets have shown a negative growth of 45 per cent.
The only BJP candidate who figures in this first ten is party candidate from Bidhannagar Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas, Sabyasachi Dutta.
A former Mayor of Bidhananagar Municipal Corporation, Dutta, who joined BJP from Trinamool Congress in October 2019, has seen his wealth increase by 229 per cent in the last five years. According to Dutta’s affidavit in 2016 when he contested the seat on a Trinamool ticket, he declared assets worth 2.35 crore and in 2021, according to his declaration, he owns assets worth Rs 7.75 crore, exhibiting a net increase of Rs 5.39 crore in the last five years.
