Congress president Sonia Gandhi yesterday alleged a nexus between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
She said the Trinamool Congress chief was following the same anti-people policies which Modi was pursuing at the national level.
“I would like to caution you, the person who calls herself ‘didi’ (elder sister, as Banerjee is affectionately called), and the one who orchestrates the ‘NaMo, NaMo’ (Narendra Modi) cries, the two of them are together,” Gandhi said at an election rally in Sujapur, West Bengal’s Malda district.
“When Prime Minister Modi faces problems in parliament, the Trinamool stands up to save him. In return, Prime Minister Modi turns a blind eye to the Trinamool’s anti-people activities,” Gandhi said.
Gandhi asked the people whether Modi and Banerjee had taken any action against the chit fund companies which looted thousands of millions of rupees from the poor in West Bengal.
“They didn’t, because the BJP and the Trinamool eat from the same plate.”
She said the way ‘didi’ duped the people of West Bengal who had given her a mandate in the state, Modi had done likewise at the Centre.
“The way didi uses money, power and muscle to silence critics, Modi adopts the same tactics to bring down the Congress governments in various states. The Bengal chief minister does not send to jail those who looted poor people’s money. Similarly, Prime Minister Modi lets those who loot banks to easily flee the country.”
Referring to the alliance between the Congress and the Trinamool in the 2001 assembly polls in the state, Gandhi said five years back, her party had backed Banerjee, as she had promised to protect the interests of the poor, women and marginal sections.
But once Banerjee came to power, she forgot all her promises, Gandhi said.
Ridiculing the Trinamool slogan of “Ma (mother), mati (land) manush (people)”, the Congress president said that while “sisters” of West Bengal were now suffering, the land had dried up and the people lacked employment.
Gandhi also attacked Banerjee over the “death of newborns and babies”, the plight of potato growers and “law and order failure”.
She said that despite having a woman chief minister, West Bengal topped in the number of atrocities against women.
Turning to Malda, famous for its mangoes, Gandhi said the state government did not give the right price to mango growers last year.
She said that even Malda’s world famous silk industry has suffered due to import of silk.
“It seems the Mamata government is not concerned with all these issues. In Bengal, everybody is unhappy. Only those who are with those running chit funds, and those who are making money by looting the poor are happy,” she said.

Taking on the might of millionaire candidates and the organisational machinery of established political parties in the West Bengal assembly polls are a few contestants whose total assets are as low as Rs2,000 to Rs7,100.
Going by the affidavits submitted by four candidates in two northern Bengal seats, none of them have any immovable assets, like house or any other property.
They work either as construction workers, or drivers or earn their living giving private tuition. One of them is a tea garden labourer.