KOLKATA: Union Home Minister Amit Shah and West Bengal Chief Minister locked in a war of words on Monday during their campaigning in Junglemahal over the issue of the recent "attack" on the latter.
Referring to the event in which Mamata was sandwiched between the front door of her car and the seat while greeting people standing on the footboard, Shah said, "You were in pain after the mishap. When our 130 party workers were killed because of your politics of violence, did you feel any pain? Did you feel the pain of the mothers of our martyrs?" He was addressing a rally at Ranibandh in Bankura.
Shah had to cancel his Jhargram visit after his helicopter developed a technical snag.
Taking a jibe at the Bengal CM for her initial reaction describing the Nandigram event a ‘conspiracy’, Shah, without naming Mamata said, "I arrived here late because my helicopter developed a technical snag. I am not raising any conspiracy theory. The incident in Nandigram was described as an attack but the Election Commission of India said it was an accident."
Mamata, while addressing her first rally in Purulia’s Baghmundi on a wheelchair with her left foot in casting, said many people thought she would be confined at home. "After I was injured, many thought I would not be able to come out of my home. I faced many attacks and was injured on several occasions. But nothing could stop me from reaching out to the people. I will travel across the state in a wheelchair. I will not cow down due to the attack. My one leg is enough to oust BJP from West Bengal," she said.
Urging young supporters to join the electoral battle, Mamata said, "Do not sit idle. If I can fight with a broken leg, then why can’t you?"
Campaigning the second day in a row in a wheelchair, Mamata called Prime Minister Narendra Modi "incompetent" and accused him of running the country in an autocratic manner.
"People from the civil society, who raise voice against the government, are silenced. Political parties are being silenced. I will continue to fight against this. The incompetent Prime Minister is running the country in an autocratic manner," she hit out.