Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday called the second wave of the pandemic a “Modi-made disaster” and drew attention to the “monumental failure” of the Centre.

At a campaign rally in Balurghat in South Dinajpur, Mamata said: “During Left rule, here in Balurghat people had been plagued by the annual problem of floods. Those days, I would call it man-made. Now, I consider this recent spike in Covid-19 cases… it is not a man-made disaster, which he (Modi) is now trying to prove. It is a Modi-made disaster.”

The chief minister called the Modi government “incompetent”.

“Around five-six months ago, the (Union) health minister had said the pandemic had ended…. Now, it has returned. Why didn’t they do proper planning ahead, why didn’t they vaccinate people earlier?” Mamata asked.

“It is a monumental failure on their part,” she added.