The election politics ahead of the Bengal Assembly polls have intensified to a heated level as the top leaders of parties in the fray continue to levy taunts at each other.
In a veiled attack at Trinamool Congress (TMC) Supremo and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that Mamata is trying to become Hindu due to fear of Bharatiya Janata Party.
"Earlier she used to say 'I wear Hijab and protest Muslims', and now Mamata is trying to prove herself a Hindu Brahmin. I have never seen her reciting Chandi Path before."
Adhir Chaudhary also criticized the BJP, saying that "I have been saying from the beginning that the BJP and Mamta together have dropped the level of elections."
His comments came after CM Mamata on Tuesday identified herself as a “Hindu Brahmin” and chanted verses from the Chandi Path.
During an address to booth-level workers in Nandigram – where she will contest the polls, CM Mamata accused the rivalry Bharatiya Janata Party and her former close aide and now BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari of playing the Hindu-Muslim card. Mamata asked Adhikari not to teach her the Hindu Dharma, she belonged to Brahmin Family.
"I would like to tell him that I belong to a Brahmin family and he should not play the religion card with me...first tell me whether you are a good Hindu...one of its principles is to love humanity,” Banerjee said.
She appealed to the people not to be taken in by those who keep trying to divide Hindus and Muslims. It is ot be noted that around 70 per cent of Nandigram’s population is Hindu and 30 per cent Muslim.
The state assembly election will be held for all 294 seats wherein the voting will take place in 1,01,916 polling stations all over West Bengal. Elections to the 294-member Assembly will be held in eight phases, from March 27 to April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. The magic figure to be the ruling party in the West Bengal Assembly is 148.