Prime Minister Narendra Modi tore into Mamata Banerjee again on Sunday, saying the Bengal chief minister’s fulminations against him and the Election Commission betrayed her fear and she realised that “ground beneath her feet is crumbling”.
In no time, the Trinamul Congress chief retorted that the “ex-prime minister” was scared of her and she wouldn’t be intimidated by Modi.
“Her restlessness and anger manifest her fright. She (Mamata) is showing her angst at the Election Commission.. the more you are shouting my name, Didi is feeling sleepless as she can realise that in politics, the ground beneath her feet is crumbling. The manner in which abuses have been hurled at me also indicates her fear,” Modi told a meeting at Rasmela Ground in Cooch Behar on Sunday, his third election rally in Bengal.
The Prime Minister, who had called Mamata a “speedbreaker” at his public meeting in Siliguri on April 3, referred to chit fund scams and the Narada sting operation at the Cooch Behar rally.
He referred to “Ma Sarada” and “Narad Muni” to target the chief minister.
“They have maligned the image of Bengal with such scams. I want to assure you that this chowkidar will take account of each paisa from all those who have looted people’s money,” said Modi, whose 40-minute address began at 10.50am.
Mamata Banerjee at the public meeting in Falakata. Picture by Anirban Choudhury
Addressing a public meeting at Churabhandar in Maynaguri around 1pm, Mamata sought to counter the Prime Minister’s statements.
“I am not someone who can be intimidated. I don’t feel frightened to fight. It is the ex-prime minister who is scared of me and thus making such statements,” she said.
Maynaguri is around 120km from Cooch Behar.
The chief minister indirectly referred to Mukul Roy, who had left Trinamul and joined the BJP, in her bid to neutralise Modi’s averments on the Narada and Saradha scams. “You speak of Saradha and Narada…. but you share the dais with a person who is one of the prime accused in these scams and is also known for having hawala connections. We have adequate proof to show his involvement. He is a betrayer and these days, he is the pied-piper of Modibabu,” said Mamata.
Modi said Bengal was having the reign of “Bua-Bhatija” (aunt-nephew) and they were trying to make the state a habitat of infiltrators, miscreants, cattle smugglers and human traffickers.
“We introduced the NRC (National Register of Citizens) in Assam to identify infiltrators. Didi is now trying to slam brakes on that exercise and misleading people. For her political advantages, she is standing with those who want to divide India,” said Modi.
Mamata also replied to Modi’s charges on the NRC.
“They did it in Assam and now they want it in Bengal.. we want to alert them...if they dare, let them touch a resident of the state... we will send them under the hangar that they had raised at the Brigade Parade Grounds,” she said.
The chief minister also claimed that a circuit bench of Calcutta High Court had come up in Jalpaiguri because of her government’s efforts and Modi had done nothing for it.
“The Prime Minister has tried to bluff the people here (Jalpaiguri) on the circuit bench. He has done nothing for the bench that would largely help north Bengal residents. It is the state government that did everything. We arranged the infrastructure, the land, and have spent crores of rupees to make the circuit bench operational,” she said.
At the Cooch Behar rally, Modi had tried to take credit for the circuit bench. “It is our government that has set up the circuit bench in Jalpaiguri,” he said.
Later in the day, Mamata addressed another public meeting at Falakata in Alipurduar. She has held seven election campaign meetings in north Bengal so far. At each meeting, Mamata touched on national and regional issues equally and attacked the Prime Minister.
Additional reporting by our Jalpaiguri correspondent
