Taking a sharp aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress and the Left in one shot Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said while the former was a peddler of bluffs, the latter were true aides of the BJP in sofar as they were helping in slicing the Trinamool Congress votes to help the saffron party win.

“The Prime Minister is a peddler of lies … rather I should say he is bluffing the country … dividing the people in the name of religion to win the elections … Modi is bluffing the people by telling that the women’s ornaments would be seized” and the citizen’s wealth would be taken away if other parties came to power,” Banerjee said.

Asserting that “if the BJP returns to power then there will be no election in India again … if they return to power they will sell the country like they have been doing … they will sell the religions, they will sell the culture and they will sell everything India stands for,” Banerjee said “they will come as they do before the elections and distribute money to buy votes but they should not be allowed to do so … we must defeat the BJP.”

She said, how Modi “only spreads hatred and divides the people in the name of religion … he divides dalits, OBCs … he divides man from man in the name of Citizenship Amendment Act, Uniform Civil Code and National Register for Citizens but we will not let that happen in Bengal.”

The Chief Minister was speaking at election rallies in Malda South and North constituencies of North Bengal. The erstwhile Malda constituency a strong bastion of the then Railway Minister ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury has been divided into two seats of Malda North and South.

While Malda North seat is held by BJP’s Khagen Murmu a former CPI(M) MLA, Malda South seat was last time won by Congress’ Abu Hasem Khan Chowdhury.

Recounting how the BJP Government had deprived by not paying its dues in 100-days’ work and other schemes Banerjee said “on the one hand they deprive us economically and on the other hand they publicise their own names on the ration bags as you can see the picture of the Prime Minister or the BJP’s logo on them … why should they give such publicity pictures when both the State and the Centre are paying for the ration.”

Hitting the Prime Minister hard for referring to the 26,000 illegally appointed school staff who lost their jobs upon a Calcutta High Court order, the Chief Minister asked “whether you are happy that these people have lost their jobs.”

She said, “it is because of the conspiracy of the BJP and the CPI(M) that 25,000 people have lost their jobs … the BJP is a job eater … they cannot give jobs but they can take them … they can increase prices, and sell the country but cannot create employment whereas the TMC government is sitting with lakhs of jobs for the people.”

In an apparent attempt to stoke the “BJP-TMC” binary in Bengal Banerjee attacked the Left and the Congress for helping the saffron outfit by dividing votes to make the path of the BJP smooth.

Saying that there was no existence of Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance in Bengal Banerjee said, “There is no INDIA in here … it is outside of Bengal and after the elections the TMC will play a big role in Delhi to make INDIA a viable force but in our State the Left and the Congress have joined hands in the name of INDIA --- which anyway was conceived and christened by me --- to help the BJP win.”

Elsewhere at an election rally in the neighbouring Murshidabad district BJP president JP Nadda rained fire on the Chief Minister for her policy of appeasement.

“Instead of bringing a majboot sarkar (strong Government) in the Centre” the TMC was trying to bring a “majboor sarkar (helpless Government)” which would be dependent on the allies and would follow the policies of appeasement and corruption, he said.

Saying that Banerjee’s policy was to support “soft terrorism” he reminded how the Bengal Government was opposing the CAA and in turn supporting infiltration.

“Her Government has sympathy for those who terrorise people but not those who love the motherland,” he said.

Referring to the land grab and sexual harassment of women at Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas by TMC strongmen Sheikh Shahjahan, the BJP leader said, “the way the women were tortured and the way her Government tried to protect the people like Shahjahan is very unfortunate particularly in a State that is led by a woman Chief Minister.”

While both Malda and Murshidabad are Muslim majority districts the population of the Muslims in Malda is about 55 percent whereas the account for about 66 percent in Murshidabad.

Like in Malda North constituency which is already held by the saffron party, the BJP is seeing a hope in Murshidabad too where the party has fielded Nirmal Kumar Saha a doctor at Behrampore seat.

He is contesting against Bengal Congress president and five-time MP Adhir Chowdhury backed by the Left and the TMC’s Yusuf Pathan a former India cricket player.

The remaining two seats of Murshidabad and Jangipur are presently held by the TMC.