Mamata Banerjee's counterattack: 'I respect PM Modi's chair, he should respect mine'

Mamata Banerjee

In a fiery rebuttal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent attack on her party, West Bengal chief minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused him of insulting her office and the people of the state by calling them “thieves.”

Addressing a government programme in Bardhaman town of Purba Bardhaman district, Banerjee said she had “never expected” the country’s top leader to “disrespect her chair and the state as a whole,” while lashing out at the Centre for withholding funds that she claimed had imposed a “heavy burden” on West Bengal’s finances.

PM Modi had earlier said that the central money given to West Bengal was looted by the TMC and used for their own cadres.

Speaking at the event, organised to distribute social welfare benefits, Mamata described Modi’s remarks as an “insult” to every citizen of the state. “The Prime Minister should respect my chair as I respect his. I never expected him to call the people of West Bengal ‘thieves’,” she declared.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief accused PM Modi of ignoring the failures of BJP-led governments elsewhere, while unfairly targeting West Bengal. “He has turned a blind eye to the performances of the so-called ‘double-engine’ BJP governments of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar, where corruption is at its highest,” she claimed.

Banerjee further charged the Centre with deliberately blocking fund disbursement despite her administration providing detailed responses.

“We have answered all your queries, yet you stop fund disbursement and call West Bengal ‘thief’. They had sent 186 central teams to West Bengal to probe corruption charges and found nothing. How can a student accept getting zero marks after answering all questions? We will not tolerate this insult,” she said.

The Chief Minister also took a swipe at the Prime Minister’s frequent visits to West Bengal during election campaigns, alleging: “He travels to West Bengal like a migratory bird every time there is an election knocking on doors.”

(With inputs from PTI)