Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Cyclone Remal and more: Modi, Mamata trade barbs during poll campaign in West Bengal

As the electoral process reaches its final stages, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee have been lauching attacks on each other during their poll campaigns in the state.

Kolkata on Tuesday was witness to multiple high-octane and colourful road shows by top leaders, one by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and two such by Mamata Banerjee, his arch-political rival in West Bengal, even as campaign frenzy reached its zenith ahead of the last phase of Lok Sabha elections.

In his first ever road show in Kolkata, PM Modi led a vibrant cavalcade from the base of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's statue at Shyambazar Five Point Crossing that terminated at the ancestral residence of Swami Vivekananda on Simla Street in North Kolkata, with people gathering in impressive numbers to greet the leader en route.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee held two road shows in support of Trinamool Congress candidates in Dum Dum and the two Kolkata seats, covering on foot nearly nine kilometres on a sultry afternoon.

On Netaji Subash Chandra Bose:
On a day the PM started his roadshow by garlanding Netaji’s statue, CM Mamata Banerjee asked him why Centre was not declaring the patriot’s birth anniversary a national holiday. “They are garlanding his portrait during elections to reap political benefits,” she said. It was also Banerjee’s prediction that Modi would cease to be PM in a matter of days.

On Cyclone Remal:
Claiming that it was her government which took measures to save the lives of people from the cyclone Remal that hit the state, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of not speaking the truth about efforts made by Delhi in monitoring it and rescue efforts after the storm. Speaking at an election rally in Barasat, Modi said that the Centre was providing all help to the West Bengal government to handle the situation in the aftermath of cyclone Remal that made landfall on the adjacent coasts of the state and Bangladesh around midnight of Sunday.

On cancellation of OBC certificates:
PM Modi also attacked the Trinamool Congress on the Calcutta High Court's decision to cancel all OBC certificates issued in West Bengal after 2010. He also slammed Congress accusing it of giving religion-based reservation which is not allowed in the Constitution.

PM Modi referred to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's earlier remarks of not accepting the High Court verdict on OBC certificates and said "they are abusing the judiciary".

"They have a modus operandi. First, they started the sin of giving it to minorities by making a law in Andhra Pradesh, they lost in the Supreme Court and the High Court rejected it because the Constitution does not allow it. So they cleverly started the game from the back door and these people overnight made all the castes of Muslim as OBCs and they robbed the OBCs of their rights...When the High Court's judgment came, it became clear that such a big fraud was taking place. But what is even more unfortunate is that for vote bank politics, now they are also abusing the judiciary. And they are even saying that no matter what happens, we are not going to listen to the court. This situation cannot be acceptable under any circumstances," he said.

The last phase of 18th Lok Sabha polls is scheduled for June 1 and counting of votes will be done on June 4.

(with agency inputs)