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On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee traded charges while addressing a large size rally each in West Bengal.

Modi while holding his first major rally in the West Bengal after state elections were announced charged Mamata Banerjee of “betraying and insulting” the people of the state who trusted she will bring about a change after the Left rule.

And Mamama while addressing her supporters in Siliguri hit back at Modi stating that the BJP is promising nothing but  “syndicate raj” in West Bengal while adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home minister Amit Shah are part of “this syndicate”.

“Modi and Shah are the only syndicate in India. Look at the increase in fuel prices. Covid pandemic happened but the PM  was nowhere to be found. You get free rice but you spent on expensive gas to cook it,” said Banerjee while organising a protest march against the steep hike in the price of LPG cylinders at Siliguri. Mamata was accompanied by her Cabinet colleague Chandrima Bhttacharya and MPs Mimi Chakrabarty and Nusrat Jahan.

Modi in his rally also accused her of nepotism by choosing to play the limited role of “bua” (aunt) to her “bhatija” (nephew) instead of becoming “Didi” (elder sister) to the people.

“You (Mamta) have betrayed and insulted the people of Bengal who trusted that you will be the harbinger of change after the end of the Left rule. You smashed to smithereens (chaknachoor) their hopes and dreams,” he said, excoriating the TMC supremo.The BJP has been accusing Banerjee of trying to install her nephew and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek as the next chief minister.

Hitting back at rival leaders like former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Banerjee, who often accuse him of favouring his industrialist friends, Modi said given his humble background he valued friendship.

“All 130 crore people of India are my friends, I work for them. I gave 90 lakh gas connections to my friends of Bengal. I have special affinity with tea, and the tea garden workers of Bengal are my friends for whom I have implemented a social security scheme,” he said.

Modi has often spoken about how he used to sell tea at a railway station and on trains as a small boy.

He also attacked Banerjee for triggering the insider- outsider debate.

“When those believing in Marx and Lenin and a party like the TMC, an offshoot of the Congress, are parties of insiders, how the BJP, for whose foundation Syama Prasad Mookerjee was the source of inspiration, can be a party of outsiders,” Modi said.