Modi’s remarks not befitting of PM: Trinamool

Kolkata, April 7 (IANS) Strongly reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's barbs against it while campaigning for the assembly polls, West Bengals' ruling Trinamool Congress on Thursday said the remarks were unbecoming of a prime minister.

Addressing successive rallies in state, Modi castigated the Trinamool over a host of issues and said the TMC stands for "Terror", "Maut" (death) and "Corruption".

He also accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of "playing politics over the dead" while referring to the March 31 flyover collapse in the city in which 26 people were killed.

"The comments made by the prime minister about the Trinamool Congress, making an abbreviation based on wild allegations using the initial of the name of our political party was in very poor taste to say the least.

"These are not words befitting the PM of India, they bring disrepute to this high office," said Trinamool spokesperson Derek O'Brien.

Posting a video statement on his official Facebook page, the Rajya Sabha member also took a jibe over Modi's charges of terror against the Trinamool.

"Mr. PM, may be, we need to remind you that you are the prime minister of this great nation and all Indians, please do not reduce yourself to a Shakha Pramukh.

"We expect you, by now, to grow with your job. The Trinamool is far from being a corrupt party. We don't run advertisement campaigns running into billions of unaccounted dollars, nor do we play politics over a horrific tragedy like the flyover collapse," said O'Brien.

"As for terror, we are all for combating terror, but in doing this please don't raise unnecessary communal temperatures. But then you, Mr. Shakha Pramukh, you would know a thing about terror given your record in 2002," added O'Brien in an obvious reference to the 2002 Gujarat riots.