After sweets with pebbles, Mamata Banerjee targets PM Modi with 'tight slap of democracy' remark

While BJP leaders have accused Mamata Banerjee of undermining democracy and ignoring West Bengal's development, the TMC chief has hit back hard - often resorting to personal attacks.

Purulia, West Bengal: The war of words between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has been scathing, spiteful and often quite slanderous in the ongoing Lok Sabha election 2019. While PM Modi has accused the TMC leader of undermining democracy, Mamata has hit back by often resorting to personal attacks - bordering on derogatory.

In the latest in a long list of insults hurled at PM Modi, Mamata on Tuesday said that she wanted to give a tight slap of democracy to him. Speaking at a rally in Purulia, the TMC chief said that PM Modi comes to the state and makes unfounded allegations against her and her party. "I don't take salary or pension. I write books and they are best sellers. I don't take money for my paintings. I could have made thousands of crores. But I don't need money. I run the party this way. So, when Narendra Modi comes to Bengal and accuses that my party uses syndicate money, I feel like giving him a tight slap of democracy," she said.  Her remark is likely to further intensify the verbal duel between BJP and TMC leaders even as West Bengal continues to witness poll-related violence each time people come out to vote.

#WATCH West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Purulia: Money doesn't matter to me.That is why when Narendra Modi came to Bengal and accused my party of being Tolabaaz (Toll collector), I wanted to give him a tight slap of democracy pic.twitter.com/JnE5xywWJI — ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2019

In one of her most controversial remarks in the recent past, Mamata had said that she would send sweets made of soil to PM Modi and add pebbles to them. This was after PM Modi had said in an informal interview to Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar that Mamata sends him sweets once or twice a year.

Mamata also refused to take PM Modi's calls in the aftermath of Cyclone Fani and later called him 'Expiry PM.' With both BJP and TMC engaged in a close contest in West Bengal, the quality of political discourse has fallen tremendously in the past few months. With voting in two phases still to go, the verbal jostle could spiral even further.

(Reporting by Pooja Mehta/Zee Media Bureau)