Modi's Guarantee Is Opposition Will Be Jailed After Polls: Mamata Banerjee

Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's poll mantra for this Lok Sabha election, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said "Modi ki guarantee" means all Opposition leaders will be in jail after June 4, when the results for the general election will be out.

The Trinamool chief's counterstrike came a day after the Prime Minister addressed an election rally in north Bengal's Jalapaiguri. "Let them conspire as much as they want. I want to give a guarantee to you that after June 4, the action against the corrupt will pick up pace. You tell me, should we not remove corruption from this country or not? Should we not end corruption? Should we not send corrupt people to jail? Should we not get rid of TMC's corruption? This is Modi's guarantee," he said.

Ms Banerjee responded to the remarks at a rally in Bankura today. "What is Modi's guarantee? That he will put everyone in jail after June. Is this the language of a Prime Minister? That after the elections end in June, they will choose and arrest people? They will put everyone in jail?" she said.

Accusing the BJP and the Prime Minister of turning "Hindustan into a jail", she said, "You have made jails everywhere. In one pocket, you have NIA and in another pocket, you have the CBI. In one pocket, ED and in another pocket, Income Tax. NIA and CBI, BJP ka bhai bhai. Income Tax and ED tax are BJP fund collection box," she said, doubling down on the Opposition's charge that the BJP-led Centre is using probe agencies for political objectives.

Ms Banerjee said she is not scared. "Who are you threatening? If you arrest five of our youngsters, their wives will be on the streets."

"What if I say I will put BJP leaders in jail after the election? But I will not say this as this is unacceptable in a democracy," she said.

The seven-phase election in the 42 Lok Sabha seats in Bengal is among the most-watched contests in this election. The BJP, which won 18 seats in 2019 and finished second, is pushing hard to better its tally against the ruling Trinamool.

This year, the BJP has focused its Bengal campaign on allegations of corruption against the ruling Trinamool and is playing up the Sandeshkhali issue. An island in North 24 Parganas, Sandeskhali made national headlines after residents accused local Trinamool leaders of land grab, extortion and sexual harassment. Trinamool has since expelled its Sandeskhali strongman Sheikh Shahjahan, who is now in the ED's custody in a case related to a mob attack on an ED team.