Mamata banks on Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali culture in Bolpur roadshow to counter Amit Shah, BJP

Banerjee's roadshow, which covered around three kms, started at Bolpur Dak Bungalow Ground and continued till Chowrasta.

The CM, flanked by her party Trinamool Congress' MP Satabdi Roy and folk singer Basudeb Das, on whose residence Shah had ate lunch on Dec 20, led a massive crowd turning the heat on in already potboiler West Bengal politics.

With Tagore's Bengali songs playing in the background, Banerjee occasionally carried the poet's portrait in hand besides launching a fiercest attack on her adversary Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Countering Shah's call to make West Bengal "Sonar Bangla" by voting for the BJP in the upcoming polls, Banerjee on Tuesday said, "Rabindranath Tagore already made Sonar Bangla. So no need to dream about new Sonar Bangla."

Taking a dig at the BJP leaders who often make faux paus over Bengali icons during state visits, the CM said, "The outsider BJP leaders had said that Tagore was born in Shantiniketan! They do not know Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji or even Gandhiji."

BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda had earlier wrongly claimed Visva Bharati in Santiniketan as Tagore's birthplace.

An angry Banerjee has also slammed BJP Rajya Sabha MP Subramaian Swamy's call to tweak the National Anthem composed by Tagore, saying, "Now they are calling for a change in the National Anthem made by Rabindranath Tagore. Let them dare to touch the National Anthem."

"The BJP used to come and practice fake and hate politics. They only come before the elections," she said, adding fuel to the insider-outsider debate.

The Trinamool, led by Banerjee, has repeatedly accused the central leaders of the BJP, who are making frequent visits to the state, as "outsiders", to be only countered by the saffron brigade.

On Dec 19, Shah, a BJP strongman, held a massive roadshow in Trinamool's stronghold Birbhum raising eyebrows of many, though the ruling party had claimed people were brought from the neighbouring state Jharkhand. 

The West Bengal politics is witnessing a stiff contest between the ruling Trinamool and its prime Opposition BJP, which is fighting with all its might to deny Banerjee a third straight term in power.