Mamata Banerjee calls Narendra Modi “Raavan” and “Gabbar Singh” in Delhi, says ready to join hands with CPI(M) and Congress nationally

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying she was not afraid of him. “Modi-ji, have you seen yourself in the mirror?” Banerjee asked. “You say you have 56 inch-chest. So what? Even Raavan had it,” she said in her characteristic acerbic wit from the dais today, drawing thundering applause.

Banerjee also equated him and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah with Gabbar Singh, the villain in the 1970s Bollywood blockbuster film Sholay. “Earlier, people used to ask their children to fall asleep, else Gabbar Singh would come. Now farmers, journalists,  people working in important institutions are all being asked to fall asleep, else the two Gabbars would come,” she added sarcastically. “They have blood in their hands,” she said, reminding the audience of the Gujarat riots.

Banerjee said that the Centre was destroying all institutions including the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) by using them to “scare” people, and she wouldn’t be surprised if a central government agency landed at her home soon. “But I am not afraid. You tell me when you will come to my house. I will keep food ready. I’ll keep both vegetarian and non-vegetarian items,” she said, adding that a Central government minister had called her and asked her not to openly criticise Modi. “Why should I listen to him? I am not afraid,” she said.

Banerjee also said that mobile phones of journalists (including their Editors), police officers, officers of the civil administration, politicians – including those from the BJP – were all under surveillance. “Even WhatsApp messages are being read,” she said, adding that the surveillance technology had been brought from Israel. “I know my phone too is under surveillance. No one is spared, they do not even trust their own ministers,” she said.

Only hours ago, the Bengal chief minister was “welcomed” to Delhi rather sarcastically through posters which took a dig at her “brand” of politics.

Banerjee today also made it clear in no uncertain terms that she was willing to ally with the Left parties at the national level “for the sake of saving the nation from Narendra Modi”. “I don’t mind if you fight with me at the state level,” she said, naming the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Interestingly, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury was part of today’s Opposition parties’ meeting in Delhi hosted by Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, though the Left had skipped the one held in Kolkata on January 13 that Mamata Banerjee had organised.

In the last Assembly elections of 2016, the Congress and CPI(M) had formed an alliance in Bengal to fight the Trinamool Congress. The CPI(M)’s stand has been that the “BJP and Trinamool Congress” are two sides of the same coin, and there has been no soft stand from the CPI(M) side on this so far.

The Congress nationally though, has taken a soft stand on Trinamool Congress, though this doesn’t exist in Bengal. In fact, today Congress MP from Bengal, Adhir Chowdhury, was critical of Banerjee in the Parliament, leading to an angry outburst from the Bengal chief minister.