‘Do your homework’: Mamata retorts to Modi’s syndicate jibe

Rajarhat (West Bengal), May 2 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "syndicate" jibe for her government, saying he himself is the leader of the "biggest syndicates" like the RSS and cow vigilantes.

Modi, as well as senior BJP leaders like party President Amit Shah, had previously taken pot shots at Banerjee's Trinamool Congress government, accusing it of introducing a "syndicate culture" in Bengal and extorting from people.

"You are the leader of the biggest syndicates in the country. Your RSS is a syndicate, you have syndicates for 'gaurakshaks' (cow vigilantes), you have syndicates for lynching, rioting, mass murder, making people jobless," Banerjee said at an election rally in North 24 Parganas's Rajarhat for Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar who again contesting from the Barasat constituency.

Taking a swipe at Modi for frequently coming to Bengal during the ongoing 2019 polls, she said "he is coming here often as people in other states are not inviting him."

The Trinamool supremo claimed Modi and his party will perform poorly in states like Uttar Pradesh where they had won a majority of seats in the last general elections and draw a blank in south India.

"Go to UP and see what (Samajwadi Party President) Akhilesh Yadav and (Bahujan Samaj Party chief) Mayawati are doing. Go and see how they are working togather to defeat you. Last time you got 73 out of 80 seats in UP but if you get close to 13 seats this time, consider yourself to be lucky. You will not get a single seat from South India," Banerjee said.

In a bid to consolidate the Hindu votes, Modi and Shah have repeatedly accused Banerjee's government of not letting Hindu religious festivals like Durga Puja and Saraswati Pujas in Bengal.

Both the leaders have often referred to Bengal government's decision to put a restriction on the immersion of the Durga idol on the scheduled date as it clashed with the Muslim festival of Muharrum a couple of years ago and claimed that if voted to power in Bengal, the BJP will make sure that Hindu festivals are celebrated everywhere without any hindrance.

Refuting the allegations of minority appeasement against her, Banerjee said Modi should know the facts before making such comments.

"You are saying that Durga Puja does not happen in Bengal. It is not true. There are one lakh Durga Pujas in Bengal every year. More than eight crore Saraswati Pujas are held here. Narendra Modi should go and do the home work before making such allegations," she added.