Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday lashed out at the Election Commission of India for its ‘biased’ approach, contending that it was acting as a puppet of the Narendra Modi government. Miss Banerjee, campaigning in Chinsurah for the Trinamul Congress’ Hooghly Lok Sabha candidate Rachna Banerjee, said: “(Prime Minister Narendra Modi) knows nothing except self-propaganda. He is violating the Model Code of Conduct by making promises.

And the Election Commission is sitting like a puppet, acting at the behest of the ruling party.” She also attacked the poll panel over the multiphase elections in the state, maintaining that there is no justification to extend the election process for more than two months. “The officials are sitting in air-conditioned rooms. How will they feel the sufferings of the common people due to the extended polling in the middle of this scorching summer?” she asked the gathering. Miss Banerjee warned: “If the BJP returns to power, I will cease to exist. You will cease to exist.

The common people will cease to exist. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will cease to exist. The farmers and workers will cease to exist. That is why defeating the BJP in every single seat is important for us.” Miss Banerjee also called Narendra Modi the master of fake promises. “Till today the amount of 15 thousand that Modiji promised have not been credited in a single account. Of the promise of 2 crores of jobs a year for unemployed, not a single unemployed youth has received an appointment letter,” she said. Free ration, free water, free electricity are fake promises to distract the attention of the people, Miss Banerjee said.

Touching on the Sandeshkhali unrest, Miss Banerjee said a dirty conspiracy was hatched by the BJP to defame the Trinamul Congress but the conspiracy has backfired. The insulted women of Sandeshkhali are all set to teach a lesson to the BJP leaders and party workers, she said. The CM added that the beneficiary schemes launched by the state government are far better than some of the Central government schemes. The Swastha Sathi card is a free cashless health card applicable everywhere for every kind of medical treatment. But the Ayushman health card of the central government can only be obtained if the laid down criteria are satisfied. It is natural that people will go for more beneficial state government-launched beneficiary schemes, she said.

Both non-Bengalis and Bengalis are residing in Bengal as an united family in an atmosphere of brotherhood and communal harmony, but the BJP is attempting to break this by trying to ignite religious sentiments and emotions, she said. Miss Banerjee went on to say that the BJP, caught in the trap laid for others now can forsee its own fall. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led BJP government faced an unexpected defeat in 2004. History is going to repeat itself, she said. The Trinamul Congress will never lose in Bengal and an INDIA coalition government is going to come to power, Miss Banerjee told the crowd.