We don’t need Modi’s double engine, ours is ‘Bengal engine’: Mamata Banerjee

The chief minister, who lambasted the PM and the Centre for the recent spike in Covid-19 cases, labelled herself as “Paharadar” of the state

Mamata Banerjee speaks at the public meeting in Balurghat on Wednesday.: Telegraph Picture

Kousik Sen, Soumya De Sarkar   |  TT |  Raiganj/Malda   | 22.04.21: Chief minister Mamata Banerjee came up with a newly-coined term as she countered the “double engine” narrative that the saffron camp had been trying to push hard to draw support in the Assembly elections.

Mamata, who spoke at three public meetings in Balurghat of South Dinajpur, Harirampur of North Dinajpur and Chanchal of Malda said the state government had  its own “Bengal engine” that was spearheading the development process of the state.

“We don’t need (Narendra) Modi’s double engine…. Ours is the ‘Bengal engine’ that has worked for development of the state. We are top in our performance and do not want Bengal to be run by Delhi…. Bengal wants to be on its own,” she said.

The chief minister, who lambasted the Prime Minister and the Centre for the recent spike in Covid-19 cases, labelled herself as “Paharadar” (warden) of the state as she played the citizenship card. 

“BJP leaders are nothing but a group of doublespeak. They are making contradictory statements while addressing different communities on the NRC, NPR and the CAA. We want to make it clear that we will not let them implement any of these in Bengal,” she said.

Her remarks indicated that in a bid to counter the BJP that has been trying to polarise votes in districts like Malda and South Dinajpur which have considerable concentration of minorities, she would go on highlighting these subjects to consolidate support among the minority population.

“Remember, a ‘Morcha’ has been formed. A young boy has held the hands of some people and is fighting the election jointly with the Congress and the Left. He is trying to instigate minorities. They are no difference from the BJP. You should show them the door as Bengal has always been a proponent of liberal ideology,” Mamata said at Chanchal.

There are 12 Assembly seats in Malda and six in South Dinajpur where elections would be held in the final two phases on April 26 and April 29.

While addressing the audience, the chief minister also urged voters not to vote for the Left and Congress.

“There is no point in voting the Left….. what would you get if you elect an RSP candidate? They will eventually sing in unison with the BJP,” she said at the rally in South Dinajpur.

In Chanchal, she repeated the same request and asked voters to shun the Congress whom they had voted for “over 50 years now.”

“Yet, the Congress could not do anything for Malda residents…. it is we who carried out development works,” said Mamata.