Personal attacks don’t hurt any more, says Didi

GAYESHPUR/RANAGHAT: Mamata Banerjee on Sunday shook off personal accusations hurled at her in the course of the Lok Sabha poll campaign and said these no longer hurt her as people were with her.


“Egulo ekhon ar amake sporsho kore na (These do not hurt me any more). Amar ma mara geychen, apnara janen aami eka thaki (My mother is no more and people know I stay alone). I have nothing and you are the only family I have,” the West Bengal chief minister said at a public rally in Gayeshpur.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah have singled out Banerjee for their sharpest attacks, some personal.

Highlighting her people connect, the CM and Trinamool chief said: “A few days back, I had been to a temple. The priest asked me my ‘gotra’, I said ‘Ma Mati Manush’. On Poila Baisakh, I went to Kalighat temple. ‘Ma tomar gotra toh shandilya (Your gotra is shandilya)’, the priest told me. I said that is my family gotra, but now it is ‘Ma Mati Manush’.”

Citing another such instance at the Siddheswari temple while she was returning from Krishnanagar, Banerjee said: “It is blessings of people that I seek. You are everything that I have. You have put me in the chief minister’s chair. And when you will ask me, I will leave.”

Banerjee also stressed that she “could have drawn lakhs in salary by now”, first as an MP and now as CM. “But I never did. Instead, I pay for even the cup of tea I have. I eat little. People keep sending me food and there are days I have just that. Aami ki sona khabo, hire khabo na mukto khabo (Can I eat gold, diamond or pearl)? I earn money from the royalty of my books and song lyrics. I even help people out of that money,” she said.

Branding all personal attacks as “dirty talk” that she has had to put up with “all my life”, Banerjee said: “I have taken a lot of beating all my life. So, I don’t care about these any more. I used to feel bad when younger but now these things no longer hurt me.”

Returning to the subject of political attacks, the CM said: “Modi is saying we don’t allow Durga Puja in Bengal. The reality is that more than a lakh Durga Pujas are held in Bengal. Why do they (saffron activists) carry weapons and ask people to do likewise? Gods and goddesses can carry weapons to punish evil, not people.”

“In 2014 elections, Modi’s BJP had won. But in the last five years, the (central) government has betrayed Bengal. He (Modi) is coming here and telling lies. He comes flying to Bengal during elections and is nowhere to be seen at other times,” Banerjee said.

Without naming Trinamool-turned-BJP leader Mukul Roy, Banerjee said: “There is a ‘gaddar’ (turncoat). We have removed him from our party. There was another in Bhatpara. We have thrown him out too. They are trying to convince Modi about doing well in Bengal. I tell BJP — first take care of Delhi, then think about ruling Bengal. I don’t work with turncoats and liars because I know people are always ready to heed my words and follow me.”