Ms Banerjee is also adept at telling lies, something which we had known all through but never quite got clinching proof of until Thursday when she released her party manifesto for the elections. The manifesto, according to the lady herself, released on Raksha Bandhan day to foster and establish her love for harmony, however, is designed to be just the opposite.

The manifesto, as CPI(M) leaders Anil Biswas and Biman Bose were to announce later at a press conference, did not seem to speak of politics but was, perhaps to put it mildly, a pack of lies and deliberate misrepresentation. For one, none of the claims that she printed in the booklet were open to scrutiny; any scrutiny and appraisal would prove that her claims will ring hollow in the face of facts. The fact is that almost all the projects that Ms Banerjee has said that she has brought to Bengal under her so-called package with the help of a friendly BJP government at the Centre were begun and implemented by the Left Front government itself; if Ms Banerjee can claim any credit at all, then it is mere making public achievements for which she has no contribution. But the people are aware of Ms Banerjee’s motivations; her hunger for publicity is wellknown in the community that she dwells.

However, what is disconcerting is not her claims; it is time that such methodical madness is ignored as long as the welfare of the people is not held up for compromise. It is her statements against the CPI(M) that open themselves up for debate and whether a politician of any stature should be allowed to make idle, irresponsible remarks in a public forum as serious as an election manifesto.

Ms Banerjee has said that if the BJP comes to power, she will turn the CPI(M) and Ganashakti offices into hospitals. For one, may be because she is ill at ease with organised office set-ups and official administration, Ms Banerjee finds it difficult to grapple with disciplined regimens but surely coming to power and the establishment of a writ does not mean turning rival offices into hospitals! Mr. Biswas and Mr. Bose said that this was irresponsible and Mr. Bose went as far as to say that while this was best ignored and since she had ``anyway made it a habit to visit hospitals,’’ the CPI(M) could not possibly allow her a ``free bed’’ in its office premises!

Mr. Biswas, in a written statement, also said that the Trinamool was bent on ousting the CPI(M) at any cost, and was willing to be party to communal forces like the BJP to achieve this end. ``She has made it clear that if the BJP comes to power, then an effort would be made to dislodge the Left Front government from power in Bengal,’’ Mr. Biswas added. ``The manifesto speaks the language of violence,’’ Mr. Biswas said, observing that there were all indications that the Trinamool would go all out to besmirch the road to this elections with blood. Mr. Biswas also pointed out that while Ms Banerjee was at pains to shout from rooftops that there had not been a single incident of rioting in India after the BJP government came to power, the facts showed that Gujarat was at this very moment being wracked by communal violence while the Staines murder case was a blot on the face of secular India.

Meanwhile, the BJP has come out with its election manifesto promising a country free from hunger and fear. It is an echo of the national agenda it had prepared last time. Obviously since there has been nothing much to prove by way of achievements, all that party can do is to repeat promises which it cannot keep. The Prime Minister has tried to prove that his government actually worked in the last 16 months and has gone on record repeating and listing even minor government projects as his achievements.