Mamata Banerjee warned on Saturday that Narendra Modi and the BJP would “destroy” the nation if given a second chance, likening them to a “440-volt Danger” sign a day after he drew a dreadful picture of Bengal in Varanasi.

The Trinamul chief accused the Prime Minister of “lying all the time” and saying “such things about the state as he is jealous of Bengal”.

“The BJP will destroy this country. The Prime Minister is lying all the time. Now he is saying people of Bengal are not sure of returning home and have to seek blessings from their mothers before leaving…. Is it true? You tell me. Is it?” Mamata asked at a rally at Hooghly’s Pandua and drew a resounding “no” from the crowd.

Mamata suggested that such dire assessments stemmed from ignorance. “This is a problem of not knowing Bengal well enough. They don’t do their homework. Here, it is a common practice, for people to seek blessings of their elders before leaving home…. Not because they fear for their own safety…. Anyway, the BJP is a party of illiterates. One can’t expect anything better from it.”

The chief minister was responding to Modi’s address to BJP workers in Varanasi on Friday.

“BJP workers in Bengal and Kerala tell their mothers before leaving home that she shouldn’t let the party flag droop if they are killed outside. In Bengal and Kerala, our people are working under the shadow of the bomb and the gun,” Modi had said shortly after slamming Mamata in an interview to a television channel.

Trinamul sources said Modi had upset Mamata earlier this week too by mentioning in an interview with actor Akshay Kumar that she sends him gifts and sweets. She has been calling it a “distasteful marketing of courtesy”.

The sources said Mamata had sniffed in the interview an attempt to dent her anti-Modi credentials with four phases of polling remaining in Bengal.

The Trinamul chief has been taking Modi head on this election season, countering his attacks daily. She had hit out within hours on Friday, but her counter-offensive on Saturday was more elaborate. “Modibabu, insult me as much as you wish. But remember, the more you do it, the stronger I get,” she said.

At a rally in Howrah’s Joypur, Mamata attributed Modi’s attention to Bengal to “envy”. “Modi and his party are jealous of the success and peace in Bengal. There are no riots here. People live together, happily, in harmony…. They can’t stand it. Like Kalidas, he is axing the very branch he is seated on, by dividing the nation.”

At a third public meeting, in Howrah’s Panchla, Mamata warned against giving Modi and his party another shot at power. “This election is a national election and we have to fight to oust the wicked and useless government at the Centre. The Modi government is the greatest threat to this country.”

“You see “440-volt Danger” signs for electrocution hazards, Modibabu and his party are also like that…. They will destroy this country if voted back to power,” the chief minister said.