'Don’t play Hindu card with me': Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday recited from Hindu scriptures (Chandipath) at a party workers’ meeting in Nandigram where she will contest the assembly polls, mounting an attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the issue of communal politics.

“Those who are playing the Hindu-Muslim card, I would like to tell them clearly that I am also girl from a Hindu family. Don’t play the Hindu card with me,” said Banerjee.

This was the first time the TMC supremo visited the area after formally announcing on Friday her candidature from Nandigram in East Midnapore district. “Every day before coming out of the house I recite from the scriptures (Chandipath). Let me recite some. Tell them to compete with me on Hindu religion,” Banerjee said before reciting from the scriptures (Chandipath) for nearly three minutes.

Chandipath is the recitation of 700 shlokas of Durga Saptashati from Markandeya Purana, written as an ode to Goddess Durga.

With Nandigram having a significant minority population, Banerjee also warned the BJP not to play communal politics. “Some people will try to divide the house into 70 and 30. But you tell them that it is not 70 and 30. We are 100. There can’t be any divide between the people,” she said.

Soon after Banerjee announced that she would be contesting the polls from Nandigram, the BJP tried to brand her as an outsider.

On Tuesday, Banerjee hit back saying: “Some people are saying that I am an outsider. How can I be an outsider when I am from Bengal? And people coming from Delhi are no outsiders? Goons coming from Rajasthan are not outsiders? If I am an outsider I shouldn’t have been the chief minister.”

The TMC had a few weeks ago launched its main poll campaign slogan Bangla Nijer Meyeke Chaye (Bengal wants its own daughter). On Tuesday, the chief minister sharpened her campaign saying that she was the daughter of Nandigram.

“I can forget my name but I will never forget Nandigram. The party workers are assets. If you don’t want me to contest tell me today. Tomorrow I won’t submit my nomination. I will submit my nomination only if you tell me that I am a girl of your house,” she said.

After a few days of house hunting, the TMC has zeroed in on two residences where Banerjee could stay over the next one month and contest the polls. Nandigram goes to the polls on April 1 in the second phase.

Banerjee is pitted against her former confidante Suvendu Adhikari, who joined the BJP, in the high-profile seat. Without naming Adhikari, Banerjee said she had made up her mind to contest either from Singur or Nandigram, the twin cradles of the anti-land acquisition movement that catapulted her to power in 2011.

She said she wanted a bridge to be constructed between Haldia and Nandigram. “I do not want anyone in Nandigram to stay unemployed. We will build a university here,” she said.