Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of Bengal, unfolded new venomous language against BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, stating that, “If he becomes PM, the country will be set on fire.” Nowadays, Trinamool Congress is aggressively criticising Gujarat CM and even Modi is attacking her consistently. This kind of frustration from TMC only reflects that BJP is indeed becoming a big force in West Bengal and Mamata is scared of that. Further,if NDA comes withmajority then her business of blackmailing the centre will come to a halt.
Ms. Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress have hurled rough language at Modi, using terms like “the butcher of Gujarat” to indict him for the communal riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002. A Supreme Court inquiry found no evidence of his complicity in the violence, which left over 2,000 people dead, most of them were Muslims. A Gujarat court has recently upheld that report. Mr. Modi has outraged Ms Banerjee’s party by stating at a rally in Bengal that she has caused more damage to Bengal in 35 months than her rivals, the Left, allegedly inflicted in 34 years of uninterrupted rule in the state. The Trinamool is particularly offended by Mr. Modi’s allegation that a painting by Ms Banerjee was bought for 1.86 crores by a controversial entrepreneur who is now in prison.
Mamata and Derek O’Brien are forgeting that Modi has been given clean chit by the SC on the riots issue whereas West Bengal continues to witness lawlessness in every sphere of activity. Life of the ordinary citizen is at stake in WB. No businessman or corporate houses want to start their business there. The Tata episode is on their mind. Virtually, it is a ‘goonda raj’ in that state and situation has not changed like previous government. The state is playing withfire as illegal immigrants from Bangladesh are a menace and sooner or later her party will support them to make them Indian citizen or come up with schemes which will benefit them for the sake of votes. She will be always inclined towards Congress because she is one of them and has come out from Congress. If one goes to Cambridge for higher studies, he or she will never forget his/her school, where his/her education had begun. West Bengal is totally under her control. Didi should first look at Bengal. Bengal only ranks higher than Bihar in terms of development. Kolkata was known as the cultural capital of India once. Today, nobody wants to do any business in Bengal state? Why? Didi and communists are different sides of the same coin. They had blotted Bengalis.
From the companionship between Modi and Banerjee years ago over “filling potholes” in West Bengal to the no-holds-barred verbal duel, the relations between the two parties have taken a bitter turn. BJP leaders who had refrained from taking on Banerjee, who was at some point seen as a potential post-poll ally, have dropped their inhibitions in castigating her party. When Anna Hazare joined Mamata’s camp, everyone thought he is with her looking at the future alliance with the BJP. Kiran Bedi joined BJP camp and Anna had quit Mamata. Every equation on Mamata’s front went wrong. Now,either she may join third front or again support UPA to come to power. Jayalalithaa attacked the BJP for the first time just before Modi was to address a rally in Chennai earlier this month. The BJP, which has formed a six-party alliance in the state, dismissed this as the “usual rhetoric” at the time of election.
Modi asked her that how she sold her painting for more than Rs. 1 crore; what was wrong in that? Instead of replying her and all her goondas, he remained silent. While the BJP’s central leadership had refrained from attacking Banerjee, its state unit was against such a strategy as the TMC had shown no inclination to get close to the NDA even in a post-poll scenario. The Election Commission has sought a transcript of Modi’s comments to investigate whether he violated the model code of conduct.
For an ordinary person outside Bengal, the aggressive attack of Banerjee on Modi might surprise them. They might wonder why she is so miffed with Modi’s innocent comments on her painting. He just wanted to know the name of the person who bought her painting. Banerjee even went on to call him a ‘shaitan’ (devil). Her party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Derek O’Brien gave Modi the title of ‘Butcher of Gujarat’ and questioned his role in post-Godhra riots. Unlike the mainstream news channels, the Bengali media is abuzz with the name of the man who bought one of Mamata Banerjee’s painting for Rs 1.8 crore. It is none other than the chairman and the managing director of the Saradha Group Sudipta Sen, who is already embroiled in the scandal surrounding a chit fund scam in which thousands of investors lost their money and many have lost their jobs since the collapse of the group.
Time and again, Mamata Banerjee has made clear that she has no intention of going with BJP. In one of the first rallies in Kolkata, Modi began his speech by praising her. One thought it was his attempt to build bridges for a prospective post-poll alliance. After all, TMC was part of the original National Democratic Alliance government during Vajpayee era. However, Banerjee seemed to be in no mood to reciprocate. One cannot forget that she has to keep in mind her popularity among nearly 25 per cent Muslim electorates in West Bengal.
