Launching a direct attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the “didi” (or sister as she is affectionately called) has now become a “shahenshah” who does not care about the state.
“Five years back, I had been hearing of ‘poriborton’ (change). I also thought change will come (in West Bengal). Change did come, but it came in didi’s nature, her motives, her manner of work. But there was no change in Bengal.
“The opposition leader who used to fight on the streets, that Mamata didi changed so much that she does not care for anybody, she has become a shahenshah, such change is not what is desired in democracy,” Modi said addressing an election rally in this town of West Midnapore district.
He also came down heavily on the Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress by refering to the Saradha chit fund scam and the purported sting operation carried out by the portal Narada News that showed several Trinamool leaders, including former unions ministers, current state ministers, and MPs allegedly taking bundles of cash.
Asking the people whether they had brought the Trinamool to power in 2011 to see them go neck deep in corruption, the prime minister said: “First, there was Saradha, now Narada. From Saradha to Narada, in Narada, the entire leadership … when will you give the next installment?
“Did you want such a poriborton? That they will take bundles of notes before the camera? Whose money is this? This is your money, this is the money of the janta janardan (people), which has been loted, and is now been distributed.”
Drawing a contrast with the Bharatiya Janata Party led National Democratic Alliance government at the centre, Modi said: “I am also in power in Delhi for almost two years. But has there been even one spot on us? Has there been even one rupee of graft?”
He asserted that he would prefer to go hungry than “steal from the people’s pockets”.