Mamata Banerjee on Thursday likened her efforts to dismantle the Narendra Modi government to the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, loading the proverbial gun at the very place that sired the rebellion against British rule.

The Bengal chief minister also accused the Prime Minister of “running the biggest syndicates in the country”.

Addressing a rally in Bhatpara under the Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency, barely 10km from the site of Mangal Pandey’s mutiny, Mamata said: “The Sepoy Mutiny was the first major uprising against the British in India. Now, the biggest threat and problem in the country — like the British oppressors then — is Narendra Modi.”

“The Sepoy Mutiny started here, from Barrackpore…. I urge the people of Barrackpore to create history once again and defeat the BJP. You keep this in mind when you go out to vote,” she added.

Mamata targeted Modi for his allegation that Trinamul ran a syndicate raj in Bengal.

“Narendra Modi runs the biggest syndicates in the country — the RSS syndicate, the gau raksha (cow protection) syndicate, the lynching syndicate, the rioting syndicate, the killing syndicate, the farmer suicide syndicate…. I have seen many such goons…. My mission is to oust the syndicate kingpin from power,” she said at a rally in Rajarhat.

Referring to Modi’s claim that 40 Trinamul MLAs were in touch with him, Mamata said: “The horse-trader appears to have forgotten that and has shamelessly come for horse-trading for the Assembly elections, in his campaign for the Lok Sabha polls.”