Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday reached out to the tribal population of South Dinajpur district, the home turf of Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar, by slamming the Narendra Modi government for not recognising Sarna as a religious code in the census.

“We have sent all necessary recommendations to the Centre and want Sarna to be recognised as a separate religious code. But the central government has not taken any initiative so far,” said Mamata, addressing a public meeting in Tapan, a tribal-dominated area of the district.

In Bengal and some neighbouring states, members of the tribal community have time and again sought the Sarna code to be recognised in the census by taking out massive protest rallies and blocking roads and railway tracks.

South Dinajpur has a tribal population of around 16 per cent. In the district's Balurghat, where Lok Sabha elections would be held on April 26, Trinamul has fielded veteran politician Biplab Mitra against the BJP's Majumdar, also the incumbent MP.

Political observers opined that Mamata’s remark on the Sarna code indicates her eagerness to woo the tribal population to wrest the seat from the BJP.

Last April, the tribal community in South Dinajpur was aggrieved with Trinamul after a party leader made three tribal women perform a ritual of atonement as they had briefly defected to the BJP and then returned to Trinamul.

As part of the dandi ritual, the women were made to prostrate intermittently on a road in Balurghat town to reach the Trinamul office, where they were re-inducted into the party.

After the incident, Trinamul’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee rushed to Balurghat to control the damage. He met the women and representatives of the tribal community to placate them. The Trinamul leader who was responsible for the act, Pradipta Chakraborty, was pushed to the backseat.

“It is evident that Mamata Banerjee today made efforts to ensure that the tribal community doesn’t vote the BJP. That is why she referred to their longstanding demand,” said an observer.

The chief minister also dubbed Majumdar a “non-peformer".

Later, in Hemtabad of North Dinajpur, she was equally critical of Debasree Chaudhuri, the BJP's Raiganj MP contesting from the Kolkata South seat this time.

“The BJP MPs got elected from here…. you voted for them. But they did nothing for the people. Instead, Sukanta Majumdar was instrumental in halting central funds. Because of them, the storm-hit people of Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar faced the crisis,” said Mamata.

She repeated that the state administration was waiting for the Election Commission's nod to build homes for storm-hit victims. The permission is needed as the model code of conduct is in force.