Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ripped into the BJP today, accusing the Centre of being a government of "rioters, bluffers and looters". Speaking of behalf of her party's candidate in Silchar, Assam -- a state next-door to Manipur which saw massive ethnic violence last year -- she questioned "You think Prime Minister Narendra Modi will give you justice?".
The entry of Trinamool Congress candidate, former MP Radheshyam Biswas, in Silchar has added a third angle to the broadly two-party contest. A Congress bastion till the '90s, Silchar has developed its own revolving door system since, alternately voting in the Congress and the BJP.
The BJP's Rajdeep Roy is the sitting legislator and the Congress is prepping for a battle that the party considers half-won. The BJP, though, has switched candidates, opting to field Assam minister Parimal Suklabadya, against whom the Congress has named senior leader Surya Kanta Sarkar.
Ms Banerjee, a stern critic of the BJP and its government at the Centre, was vocal.
"This election is going to be scary," she told the gathering. "You have not seen an election as tainted as this. It's a government of the agency, for the agency and by the agency," she added.
Pointing to the ethnic violence in Manipur, she said, ""You think Modi will give you justice? Do you believe in this? If you think you are dying now, you can believe that. But don't even believe that Modi will do something for someone. Because this is a government of rioters, bluffers and looteras. This is a jumlabaaz government. They don't deserve to be forgiven".
One of the key promises in the Trinamool manifesto is the removal of Citizenship Amendment Act is crucial for Assam -- a state hugely uneasy over its implementation .The state, which shares border with Bangladesh, has always been sensitive over the issue illegal migrants from the neighbouring country. In that backdrop, the implementation of the CAA -- which grants Indian citizenship to persecuted minorities in Muslim majority neighbouring countries -- has upset many.
There have been massive protests in Assam over the issue already, spearheaded by the AASU, All Assam Students Union. Ms Banerjee has declared that she would not allow the implementation of CAA in Bengal and the state assembly has passed a resolution on it.
"I will implore you to come together," Mamata Banerjee said today. "Alliance means Trinamool Congress. We will show INDIA the way. In Bengal, we are fighting the BJP alone. There is no Congress or BJP. The Congress supports the BJP there. At the all-India level we will provide leadership to the INDIA alliance," she added.