Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for peddling false dreams and fake guarantees and asked the people to remain alert against the BJP’s game plans to trigger communal riots ahead of the elections.
Addressing the Prime Minister as Modi Babu, Banerjee told an election rally at Purulia that “the samples of Modi Babu’s guarantees are nothing but sending central agencies, CBI, ED and Note Bandi,” challenging the BJP leader to prove the charges of corruption that were being brought against her government.
This was the first time after many months that the Chief Minister had directly attacked the Prime Minister by his name.
Alleging how the Central Government schemes were used to advertise the Prime Minister, Banerjee said, “Modi Babu’s guarantees are his ration bags of rice and wheat — price of which are half-borne by the State Government — and which carry his pictures … the guarantee of Modi Babu are his pictures and nothing else.”
“You have sent 136 committees to Bengal to investigate into the corruption charges … but I challenge you to make public those report and prove our involvement,” Banerjee said comparing Bengal with Uttar Pradesh where she said “there has been 85 lakh corruption cases whereas in Bengal there were some minor incidents in about 28 places which too we have promptly taken care of.”
In an apparent reply to the Prime Minister’s earlier speeches where he alleged that the TMC had allowed the institution of corruption to the panchayat levels Banerjee said “all the panchayats were not run by t he TMC. “Many of them are run by the BJP and yet many others by the CPI(M) and the Congress jointly … so why should we be responsible for all the scams.”
Comparing the Central schemes with the ones in Bengal she said, “we give Swasthya Saathi to all the 9 crore citizens of this State whereas they will not give Ayushman Bharat to you if you have a cycle or a motorcycle at your house … we have schemes that have been acclaimed around the world unlike their limited schemes which are nothing but lies.”
Asking the people to vote carefully instead of getting swayed by the Prime Minister’s guarantees, Banerjee said “if they come to power I don’t know how ruthlessly CAA, Uniform Civil Code will be implemented and whether reservations (in government posts and schemes) will be allowed to continue.”
Warning that if the BJP came to power “they will seize your religion, your caste, your choice of food and everything” Banerjee said adding “they may trigger communal riots” just before the first phase of elections on April 19. “They may trigger riots on April 17 to polarise vote against which we will have to remain cautious … but remember that no one should get into their communal trap.”
Asking the Election Commission of India to offer a level-playing field for all the political parties, Banerjee said, “ECI should remember that the generations of India and the world will never forgive them if they allow Indian democracy to be destroyed … I will request them to work impartially.”
