Kolkata, April 24 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi after he took a boat ride in the Hooghly River.

Addressing an election rally in Howrah, Banerjee said PM Modi could enjoy a boat ride on the Hooghly in the state because its waters were clean, unlike the Yamuna in Delhi.

She claimed that the Prime Minister would not be able to undertake a similar boat ride on the Yamuna due to pollution.

According to the Chief Minister, it was good that the Prime Minister chose to take a boat ride on the Hooghly River, where riverfront areas had been beautified by the state government and civic bodies, including the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.

“Compare Bengal’s Ganges with Delhi’s Yamuna. Bengal’s Ganges is clean. That is why you went for a boat ride this morning to enjoy the breeze. This is mere politics amidst the elections and nothing but a photo-op. I challenge you: you went for a boat ride on the Ganges, and that is fine; you are welcome to do so. I, too, visit Chandannagar during the Puja season to take a boat ride on the Ganges. I also visit Gangasagar.”

Drawing attention to the pollution plaguing Delhi’s Yamuna River, the Trinamool Congress supremo remarked, “You should go to Delhi and take a dip in the Yamuna River sometime. Delhi’s Yamuna is completely polluted. You cannot even manage the Yamuna, yet here you are in Bengal, taking boat rides on the Ganges!”

Meanwhile, responding to PM Modi’s claims about women’s safety in Bengal, Banerjee said, “See how safe women are here in the city, in the state, on the streets, unlike BJP-ruled places like Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere, where incidents of attacks on women are reported every day. Why do you forget about Hathras and Delhi? Please go to Manipur, which is burning. Why are you silent on Manipur?”

–IANS

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