Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday flaunted the BJP’s Bengali credentials to say that his party emerged from the Jana Sangh founded by “a great son of Bengal”, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, his comment earning a swift response from chief minister Mamata Banerjee who invoked an array of icons to illustrate what the state stood for.

At a rally in West Midnapore’s Kharagpur on Saturday, Modi tagged the BJP as a party that belonged to Bengal in the true sense of the term.

“I had said at the Brigade (Parade) grounds that the BJP was indebted to Bengal. The BJP has been formed out of Jana Sangh. Jana Sangher janmadatar naam ki? Jana Sangh jawnmodatar naam ki? (What is the name of Jana Sangh’s founder?) Jana Sangh janmadatar naam hochhey (The name of Jana Sangh’s founder is) Syamaprasad Mookerjee,” Modi said.

“Jana Sangh’s founder was a great son of Bengal. Therefore, if there is a party from Bengal, in the true sense here, then it is only the BJP. The BJP’s DNA contains Ashutosh Mukherjee and Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s values, ideology, behaviour and culture. With this culture we want to help every part of Bengal achieve new heights of development,” Modi added.

Within an hour of Modi’s address, Mamata took to the stage to address a poll rally in East Midnapore’s Khejuri and debunked Modi’s claims.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee waves to her supporters in an East Midnapore rally on Saturday Telegraph picture

“We people belong to the land of Rabindranath (Tagore)-Nazrul (Islam), we respect Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, Ambedkar, Maulana Azad, Bhagat Singh, Mahatma Gandhiji and Netaji…And they are showing us Syama Prasad Mookerjee…Go and see, only yesterday they threw Syama Prasad Mookerjee’s photographs and set them on fire,” Mamata said in an obvious reference to BJP workers burning banners and buntings of the party to protest the choice of candidates at many places in Bengal.

In his speech on Saturday, Modi invested close to three minutes to invoke Bengal’s Khudiram Bose, Hemchandra Kanungo, Deshpran Birendranath Sashmal, Nirmal Jibon Ghosh, Matangini Hazra, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar, Sarada Devi, Rani Rashmoni, Devi Chaudhurani, Kadambini Ganguly, and Chandramukhi Basu.

While Modi appealed to Bengali sentiments, Mamata didn’t forget to remind her audience about the vandalism of Vidyasagar’s statue in Calcutta in May 2019 by alleged BJP supporters during a rally led by Amit Shah.

“They broke the statue of Vidyasagar,” Mamata said. “All this is because they are outsider goons. They don’t know Bengal. Bengal is not a place for outsider goons.”

BJP sources said it was a matter of concern that with only a week left for the first phase of polls the PM himself had to try to prove his party’s Bengal connect.

Modi also repeated his allegations against Mamata and her nephew and Trinamul MP Abhishek Banerjee.

Attacking Abhishek, Modi said while a single-window system had been introduced in the nation for investors, Mamata introduced in Bengal a single-window system known as the “nephew window”.

“Nothing works if you don’t go through this window in Bengal,” Modi said.

Taking a jibe at Trinamul’s 10-point poll manifesto, Modi said the people of Bengal had given Didi 10 years to serve them, but she in return gave bad governance and corruption.

Though Modi went ballistic in his attack on Mamata, the less-than-expected turnout for Saturday’s rally in Kharagpur’s BNR Grounds left state leaders worried. State BJP chief Dilip Ghosh blamed the police for it. “The police have stopped party workers from coming to the meeting. They (BJP supporters) defy the police and come to the meetings by any means,” Ghosh said.

Barbs fly

Mamata Banerjee once again lambasted her former cabinet colleague Suvendu Adhikari for being a “traitor”, drawing parallels with the Battle of Plassey in 1757. “Traitors don’t rule Bengal. Could Mir Jafar do it? In cahoots with the English, he did manage to get Siraj ud-Daulah defeated… but couldn’t do anything himself after that,” she said in Khejuri. “Bengal will rule Bengal. Outsiders, facilitated by traitors here, will not succeed in the end.”

Barely 40km away in Egra, Adhikari accused Mamata of conducting a campaign like a leader of the Opposition. “I am not a traitor… whatever was given to me, I returned everything to Mamata Banerjee. I told her to give everything to the bhaipo (Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee),” he said.