India will regress to dark ages if Modi becomes PM: Mamata

TNN | Apr 29, 2014, KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: BJP's all-out attack on Trinamool Congress in a bid to boost vote share rather than go soft on a potential ally triggered a heated response with the regional party heaping invective on Narendra Modi, calling him haughty and arrogant besides being intent on spreading lies. 

Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee said India would regress to the dark ages if Modi became PM and accused him of trying to instigate communal violence, referring to his remark that she welcomed illegal immigrants. Trinamool fielded finance minister Amit Mitra and party general secretary Mukul Roy on Monday to rubbish Modi's claim that Saradha scamster Sudipta Sen bought Mamata's paintings for Rs 1.8 crore. 

Seething in anger, Mitra said, "Modi, who knows nothing about Bengal, is making personal attack against Mamata Banerjee. This is a blatant case of defamation. Either he should apologize in public or we file a defamation suit." Earlier, Trinamool MP Derek O'Brien had lashed out at Modi as the "butcher of Gujarat". 

Roy followed up, saying, "Someone whose hands are blood-stained in Gujarat riots is doubting the integrity and sincerity of our leader and making personal attacks." 

Trinamool's anger boiled over, with Roy hurling epithets like "self-centred, arrogant, haughty" at Modi in response to the "slur" on Mamata. Roy, however, refused to give details of the people who bought Didi's paintings. "It is not your job. It is the domain of audit firms. We have the audited accounts of the sale proceeds of those paintings," he said. 

Mitra claimed all money raised from the sale of paintings had either gone for charity purposes or funding the party's mouthpiece 'Jago Bangla'. 

BJP had started off trying to woo Trinamool, a possible ally in a state with 42 Lok Sabha seats, but has decided to take the party head on in order to improve its vote share and even win a few seats. BJP feels aggression may offer greater benefits than trying to humour a future ally. 

Realizing that there is a degree of anti-incumbency in the state against the ruling TMC with crucial three phases of election still to go, BJP on Monday said the Trinamool had got rattled and was hence hitting out at Modi. Asked about TMC's strong reaction, BJP said it was "rattled beyond its comprehension" over the response to the party in West Bengal. "They did not expect their fortress to be shaken up," BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman told reporters in Delhi. 

Sitharaman charged that TMC was "running away" from answering the questions raised by Modi. "It is in the interest of West Bengal that the question was asked. A rattled TMC does not know how to respond." 

On Monday, the Saradha CMD came to Trinamool's defence, claiming that he didn't buy any of Mamata's paintings. "I don't know who all bought the paintings and the money they paid. I didn't buy the paintings," said Sudipta Sen, currently in judicial custody. 

Trinamool leaders, however, didn't speak on the ongoing investigation into the Saradha scam when the Enforcement Directorate questioned TMC candidate from Balurghat Arpita Ghosh on Monday. 

BJP state president Rahul Sinha said, "Sen is under pressure. He has threat on his life. He doesn't have any credibility. Mamata Banerjee selling her paintings is very much in public domain." 

Other parties joined in too, with Congress leader and candidate from Balurghat Omprakash Mishra saying, "There is complicity between Trinamool Congress and the Saradha boss." CPM leader Sujan Chakrabarty said the Trinamool has to depend on "scamster" Sudipta Sen's certificate. 

Congress leader Digvijay Singh, however, sought to make common cause with Mamata, tweeting, "Nothing new about Modi tactic of making baseless allegations and cheap potshots. Mamata is his latest victim, we are so used to his crudity." 

Trinamool leaders went on a counter attack against the BJP over scams that surfaced in 2001. "The UTI scam was worth Rs 25,000 crore affecting 2 crore people. Similarly, Balco was assessed for Rs 6,000 crore but sold at a measly Rs 550 crore. Can we now assume (just as Modi assumed in the case of our chief minister) that that misappropriated money is now being pumped in to the advertising blitz across the country," said Roy.