Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday apparently revived a 2007-era slogan, made famous during the Nandigram’s anti-land acquisition movement in East Midnapore, with a call to respond to bullets with ballots a day after the Sitalkuchi firing incident.

Mamata, who attended two rallies in north Bengal followed by a candle march in Burdwan on Sunday, highlighted the purported CISF “murders” at all her events.

In Burdwan on Sunday evening, she participated in a road show on her wheelchair and covered a 6km stretch with a candle in hand, to show her solidarity for the four youths who were gunned down in Sitalkuchi.

At a rally in Jalpaiguri’s Raiganj on Sunday afternoon, Mamata implored the crowd to avenge the Sitalkuchi deaths, from the central forces opening fire, with votes and not violence.

The parallels to 2007 were obvious on Sunday, when Mamata refused to go on the back foot and instead rallied her supporters at a time of crisis.

“Bengal will make Trinamul victorious with more votes and seats than it had earlier. It is a challenge...Don’t give them (the BJP) a single vote. You have to make us victorious with more votes than in the past. This is a challenge….My mothers and sisters, you will cast your vote for your brothers who were gunned down and remember their blood-stained faces,” she said.

Trinamul sources said Mamata was both furious and impassioned by Saturday’s incident, and cast aside restraint over poll-time predictions by declaring that her party would win with more than the 211 seats that it had won in 2016.

“Till now, she had only confidently declared she would win, but had been ambiguous about numbers, besides urging people to ensure victories in 200-plus seats. Now, she seems a lot more incensed, more confident…. The BJP-led Centre’s central forces committed a big mistake politically,” said a source. “She was quietly confident before this. But after Sitalkuchi, she’s back to her fiery old self… seething and supremely confident. She realises that the Sitalkuchi incident would be pivotal,” he added.

Many Trinamul insiders recalled her movement in Nandigram, where she agitated relentlessly after 14 persons were killed in police firing during the Left regime, recounting how that show of support underpinned her rise to power.

From her rally in Jalpaiguri on Sunday, Mamata revived the Nandigram-era slogan.

“Bullet-eyr bawdla ballot-ey chai (Bullets must be avenged with ballots),” she said.

Trinamul leaders pointed out the slogan was made famous during the Nandigram movement.

“The CISF who are trained to handle miscreants killed our brothers who were in the queue of a polling booth. It was a planned murder and Union home minister Amit Shah is responsible. It is shameful that the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) tried to support genocide,” Mamata said at a rally.

Apart from focusing on Sitalkuchi, Mamata also highlighted how her government had helped to develop the tea and tourism sectors, which are considered the lifeline of north Bengal’s economy.

“We gave free dwellings for the tea garden workers. Our government had increased the wage of tea garden workers from Rs 67 to Rs 202. The BJP government assured you of opening tea gardens but they did not open a single one. While BJP gave false promises to the people here, our government opened seven tea gardens,” said Mamata from her first campaign rally in the Dooars, referencing her government’s efforts to develop the tourism sector after she came to power in 2011.

Trinamul sources said Mamata’s focus on the tea sector was vital as tea workers are a deciding factor in 12 out of 54 Assembly constituencies in north Bengal.