Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in Bengal to address two poll rallies, on Thursday said Mamata Banerjee’s “actions” in Nandigram showed that she had accepted defeat.
“We all saw what happened in Nandigram sometime back. It shows that Didi (Mamata) has accepted her defeat. It shows that a BJP government will be formed in Bengal,” Modi said at a rally in Howrah’s Uluberia.
He was referring to Mamata’s visit to a polling booth at Boyal in Nandigram where the chief minister alleged that BJP workers were rigging the polls.
Modi addressed another public meeting at Joynagar in South 24-Parganas when Mamata was still inside the school. Expressing his confidence over the BJP’s win in Nandigram, the Prime Minister said Mamata’s actions were reflections of her nervousness.
“In the past few days, some of Didi’s decisions have become the biggest opinion poll as well as exit poll in Bengal politics…. When (she) realised the initial trends, Didi left Bhowanipore seat and went to Nandigram. She reached Nandigram and realised her mistake, and the polling mood till now…What the people of Bengal wanted to do, Nandigram is already doing it today. She got angry and insulted the people of Nandigram,” Modi said at Joynagar.
Modi also claimed the polling trend in the first phase of elections in the state made it sure that the BJP would grab power in Bengal with more than 200 seats.
“Didi, the filing of nomination for the last phase of polls is still left. Please tell us if there is any truth in the rumour that you will file the (nomination) form in a seat….Is this true?” Modi asked at his rally at Uluberia.
Trinamul sources later ruled out any possibility of Mamata contesting any other seat. Mamata also took the battle back to Modi when she questioned him for holding rallies in Bengal on the polling days.
“…And every time, every election day, Narendra Modi is coming to Bengal to address rallies. Why (should he come on) election day to campaign? If we cannot campaign in poll-bound areas, then why on every election day the prime minister of this country, along with all facilities, including Doordarshan…why will he be addressing the people on every election day? Is it not wrong? Is it not violation of the conduct of election rules (Model Code of Conduct)?” Mamata said while speaking to journalists at Nandigram.
Apart from attacking Mamata on the issue of Nandigram, Modi also referred to a letter written by her on Wednesday to leaders of 14 national parties. She had said the BJP was trying to turn the state governments into mere municipalities and establish a one-party authoritarian rule in India.
“Her nervousness has multiplied after the first phase of polls….Only yesterday (Wednesday), she has written a letter to many leaders of the nation and appealed for help. The people who are outsiders and tourists in her eyes, whom she never gave time to meet…she is asking for their support now,” Modi said, taking a jibe at Trinamul and Mamata’s “outsider” narrative.
Modi also fell back on his party’s polarisation agenda in both his speeches as he questioned Mamata’s intentions behind raising questions over his visit to Bangladesh on March 26 and 27 while polls had started in Bengal.
“I went to one of the 51 shaktipeeths, the Jeshoreswari temple, Didi has objections to it…I visited Orakandi where I sought the blessings of Harichand Thakur and Guruchand Thakur for the whole nation, Didi is angry over that…You (the audience) tell me, is it wrong to visit Maa Kali’s temple? Is it wrong to salute Harichand Thakur? Don’t you know us…We are not men of seasonal respect…We know how to respect our culture and customs always…Didi wants to keep the infiltrators happy and hence she has forgotten the people of Bengal,” Modi said.
