Countering the outsider tag at Nandigram on Tuesday, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee took a dig at the BJP and said that people “coming from Gujarat have become insiders in Bengal.”
I have heard some people are calling me an outsider in Nandigram. I am amazed. I was born and brought up in the neighbouring Birbhum district, and the person who is calling me an outsider was also not born here. Today I have become an outsider, and those coming from Gujarat have become insiders in Bengal," she said.
The Chief Minister was addressing TMC workers a day ahead of filing her nomination for the seat. She is pitted against her former aide Suvendu Adhikari, who joined BJP ahead of the elections, in the high-profile seat.
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Adhikari has often called himself "bhoomiputra" (son of the soil) while seeking to get back at the TMC supremo who has been targeting the BJP with the "party of outsiders" barb.
Accusing Adhikari of inciting people in the name of religion, the TMC supremo said people who had "sold their souls to outsiders from Gujarat" are insulting the Nandigram movement by playing the communal card.
Some people are talking about the 70:30 ratio (of Hindu-Muslim population). Those doing that are insulting the sacred Nandigram movement which people of both communities fought together. People of Nandigram will make BJP ''April fool'' on April 1 when polling is held," She said.
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Without naming Adhikari even once, Banerjee said she had made up her mind to contest either from the Singur or Nandigram--the two cradles of the anti-land acquisition movement-- that catapulted her to power in 2011.
The West Bengal assembly elections will take place in eight phases starting from March 27. Results will be declared on May 2.
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