Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday called Narendra Modi India’s “ex-Prime Minister”, tearing into him over his Sandeshkhali claims and his communal thrust.
Mamata also rubbished some of his “guarantees” for Bengal, before asserting that the BJP was sent packing by the people in the first three phases of the ongoing general election. The fourth phase is on Monday where eight constituencies of Bengal will vote.
She said never before in her four decades of public life, during which India had eight Prime Ministers till Modi, did she see one that was this “cruel” or “lies” this much.
“They were sent epaash (this side) in the first phase, opaash (that side) in the second, and dhopaash (an onomatopoeia that translates to a loud thud) in the third phase,” said Mamata to thunderous applause from the crowd at Amdanga of North 24-Parganas, part of the Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency, where she spoke in support of Trinamool candidate Partha Bhowmick.
Amdanga is barely 16km from Kankinara in the same constituency, where Modi campaigning for BJP candidate Arjun Singh.
“The BJP simply did not get enough votes in the first three phases. They (the BJP) know this… the people know this, and in a key indicator, the stock markets have been crashing,” said the Trinamool chief.
She continued: “While I am at this meeting here, our nation’s bidayi (outgoing) Prime Minister….”
“I mean the ex-Prime Minister, he too conducted a meeting in Barrackpore, and has several others in Bengal today (Sunday),” she said, prompting loud laughter and cheers from the crowd.
Mamata asked Modi on Sandeshkhali, continuing to accuse the saffron ecosystem of having fabricated an elaborate framework of lies to turn it into its foremost poll plank.
“He has been going around spreading lies…. Before raising a finger at us, he should look at himself. He should be ashamed for playing with the dignity of the women of Sandeshkhali. I will not listen to lectures from those who disrespect women,” she said.
She also attacked Modi over his silence on the molest charge against governor C.V. Ananda Bose. “No woman is willing to visit Raj Bhavan after some shameful deeds came to light. The prime minister should have asked him (the governor) to resign, but he didn’t utter a word… and he is still peddling lies on Sandeshkhali,” she said.
Mamata said she would never allow the citizenship law or uniform civil code and that she wasn’t trying to rob Hindus SCs and STs of reservation privileges by bringing Muslims into the ambit.
Slamming the communal overtones of Modi’s speeches, she said: "His (political) life started with riots. How many people were killed under him?"