Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said Narendra Modi was suffering from “haratanka (fear of defeat)” and accused him of trying to win in Bengal by dividing its people because he knew “defeat was certain” in other big states.

The Trinamul chief, who held twin rallies in Bagula and Panighata of Nadia, said Modi was a “jhoota chowkidar (watchman who lies)” and did not respect the people.

She accused Modi of toeing the Bengal BJP line and said he should have run a fact-check on the inputs he receives from his party’s “clueless” state unit.

“Modibabu is so full of lies — a jhoota chowkidar — that he will have to be punished in front of the people…. He is merely parroting the clueless state unit, without cross-checking, without any attempt to verify what Bengal is,” she said in Bagula.

“If a child does something wrong, the mother slaps him so that the mistake is not committed again. In the same way, you (the people) slap this big child democratically by voting against him. One vote against him equals one slap,” she added.

Sources in her party said Mamata was carefully incorporating elements in her addresses to respond to Modi’s allegations and has been timing her programmes with scope for her to launch a counter-attack immediately after a broadside from him or BJP chief Amit Shah, blunting the impact — “if any” — of their strikes in Bengal.

In Panighata, she said Modi’s face had “turned pale” out of his fear of defeats. “He knows he will lose and that is why his face has turned pale. He is now suffering from haratanka and uttering nonsense everyday in fear of certain defeats in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha — 190 seats between them — and elsewhere,” she said.

“I do not mind if the BJP wins in Tripura (two Lok Sabha seats in the state), but that will not give him the majority out of 543 seats. That is why he is roaming around in Bengal, desperately hoping to get votes by dividing the people…. With such Hitlerism, such dictatorship, so many policies against the people, who will vote for them?” she asked.

“Do you know why he keeps coming to Bengal? Because the RSS has advised him to keep Mamata Banerjee in control. There is nobody who speaks against him as much as Mamata.”

The chief minister said the general election was for Modi to prove himself, not for her to answer what she has done in Bengal.

“It’s my turn to ask him about his accomplishments for the country…. Modibabu, you will not ask me what I have done here. If I have not done anything for the state, then the people will demand answers from me,” she said, in apparent response to Modi’s allegations earlier in the day in South Dinajpur.