Oct. 12: Jyoti Basu once called Mamata Banerjee a “420” (fraud) but Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee all along insisted he would “rather leave a white page blank than comment on her”.

Today, the chief minister put on a white coat, metaphorically, and wrote out a diagnosis on the blank page for the Trinamul Congress chief: “juvenile disorder”.

Bhattacharjee had just been asked by reporters in Delhi about the railway minister’s demand for his arrest after yesterday’s violence in Khanakul, Howrah. “I don’t reply to such questions (Mamata’s accusations). I don’t have time for that. It is a case of juvenile disorder,” he said.

Bhattacharjee spoke with authority and showed a will to take on Mamata. Describing the Prime Minister as an “honourable man” — without the irony that Mark Antony imbued the phrase with — he said Mamata’s stand on the Maoists ran counter to Manmohan Singh’s.

“It is unfortunate. A Union minister should not speak such language,” Bhattacharjee said, asked about Mamata’s opposition to the joint force operation in Bengal and her claim that the state would burn if artistes and writers were arrested on the ground of being Maoist sympathisers.

“The Prime Minister is an honourable man. The Prime Minister himself has called the Maoist threat the greatest challenge to internal security. When the Prime Minister himself is making an observation, ministers should follow,” Bhattacharjee said.

His punch for Mamata and pat for Singh ties in with the CPM’s post-Siliguri policy of not wasting any chance to try and drive a wedge between the allies. The chief minister also favoured the continuation of the joint security operation in Lalgarh. ( )

Some may also see in the praise for the Prime Minister a message for Prakash Karat. The party central leadership’s frequent criticism of the Bengal party and government after the Lok Sabha poll debacle had prompted the chief minister, who was opposed to the withdrawal of support to the UPA, to skip politburo meetings till yesterday.

Bhattacharjee dripped sarcasm when asked his opinion of the Trinamul slogan “Ma, maati, manush (mother, earth, people)”, saying: “Don’t you know it is the name of a famous jatra (melodrama)? It is not her creation.”

Mamata, who sources said was glued to the TV at her Kalighat home during Bhattacharjee’s media interaction, did not comment, leaving the field clear for party colleague Partha Chatterjee.

In a tit-for-tat psychiatric diagnosis, Chatterjee said: “Today’s comments showed he (Bhattacharjee) is suffering from mental imbalance.”

“Mamatadi wanted to convey the impression she didn’t consider Bhattacharjee serious enough to respond to,” a Trinamul leader said.

Bhattacharjee had maintained a similar stand for years, saying “my culture prevents me from commenting on her brand of politics” even as his comrades went ballistic at her. His comment today was more original than the barbs usually flung during political skirmishes. His predecessor Basu had been less subtle. “She is a 420, a fake doctor,” Basu had said on the controversy around Mamata’s PhD and dubbed her “a violent woman (hingshasroyi mahila) who often pulls at the police’s uniform”.

The late CPM state secretary, Anil Biswas, had been the most derisive, saying “even the devil wouldn’t touch her”.

“If Mamata can become chief minister,” scoffed the late Subhas Chakraborty, “hair can grow on my bald pate.”

Apart from his “juvenile” salvo, Bhattacharjee, who was meeting reporters after talks with Manmohan Singh, refused to be drawn on Mamata. He said Maoist leader Kishanji was a liar. “He is not only a murderer but a liar too. He says I have had a telephone talk with him. How can a liar be a leader of an organisation?”

Bhattacharjee spoke of new industrial projects in Bengal. “How can I dump industrialisation? Even in Singur, we are trying our best to have an alternative project. I am not disclosing anything now.”