Kolkata, February 2025 – A fresh political brawl has erupted after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made remarks about corruption in Bengal, prompting an enraged response from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who accused her of being “biased” and, more importantly, of “stealing her lines”.

“How dare she criticize Bengal’s corruption? That’s MY job!” thundered Banerjee at an emergency press conference. “Every election, I stand on stage and promise to remove corruption, even though it never actually goes away! Now she’s trying to do the same? Plagiarism alert!”

Bengal Corruption: Who Owns the Copyright?

The controversy began when Sitharaman, in a recent address, pointed out “rampant corruption” in Bengal’s government schemes. This shocked absolutely no one, except for Banerjee, who saw the statement as “Delhi’s latest attempt to undermine Bengal’s creative integrity.”

“This is a blatant attack on Bengal’s artistic freedom,” said a senior TMC leader. “Corruption is part of our rich political heritage! From cut-money culture to recruitment scams, we have carefully nurtured this ecosystem for decades. Now the BJP wants to take credit? Outrageous.”

Political Response: ‘Your Corruption Is Worse Than Our Corruption!’

The BJP, sensing an opportunity, doubled down on its accusations. “Bengal is drowning in corruption,” said a BJP spokesperson. “If there were an Olympic event for ‘Misusing Public Funds’, Bengal would win gold every time.”

TMC leaders, however, swiftly retaliated with their favorite counterattack strategy: “Whataboutism.”

  • “And what about the UP paper leak scam?”
  • “And what about Madhya Pradesh’s Vyapam scam?”
  • “And what about Adani?”
  • “And what about the mysteriously vanishing ₹20,000 crore?”

At one point, the debate turned into a national corruption leaderboard, with parties competing to prove whose scams were more creative and better executed.

Citizens React: ‘Can We At Least Get a Refund?’

Amidst the political mudslinging, Bengal’s citizens remained unimpressed.

“What I want to know is—where’s my cut?” asked one frustrated voter. “If everyone in the government is making money from corruption, shouldn’t we at least get a cashback offer?”

Others took a more strategic approach. “Instead of arguing over who is corrupt, can we at least organize our scams more efficiently?” asked a college student. “If corruption is here to stay, the least they can do is deliver bribes on time and without so much bureaucracy.”

What’s Next?

With elections around the corner, Banerjee has vowed to fight back against Delhi’s “political interference” and continue promising to remove corruption (without actually doing so).

Meanwhile, Sitharaman is expected to expand her criticism to other states, ensuring that every region gets an equal opportunity to be publicly humiliated.As Bengal’s political scene erupts in chaos once again, one thing remains certain—no matter who wins, corruption is here to stay.