Why are you so afraid of a paper tiger, Modi asks Mamata

Returning Mamata Banerjee's barb that he was only a "paper tiger", BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi Sunday asked her why she was so afraid of a "paper tiger", and wondered what would have happened if the Trinamool Congress chief faced a "real tiger".

"You are so afraid of this paper tiger. Had a real tiger come before you, what would have happened to you?" Modi said at an election rally here.

"When a paper tiger is proving to be so tough, when you know the strength of a real tiger, then what will be your condition," Modi asked.

He said the youths of Bengal were the real tigers, who have awakened now.

Earlier this week, Banerjee took a dig at Modi, saying there was a difference between a "paper tiger" and a Royal Bengal Tiger.

"In Bengal, there is a Royal Bengal Tiger in the Sunderbans," she had said.

Modi launched an attack at the West Bengal chief minister for the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam and said: "You are talking about the tiger. If you have the guts... if you had put Saradha chit fund culprits in jail, conducted a probe and ensured the poor got their money back, then I would have admitted you are a tiger."

"A tiger never tries to save thieves and looters."

"What kind of government do you have and what kind of laws are there when anyone can open a company, take blessings of leaders, click four photos with leaders, and pick people's pockets to run a chit fund and loot lakhs? And those in the government are clapping."

Modi said his fight was against the loot and asked for the people's blessings. He said he has come to politics not with the motive of revenge, but for the politics of change.

He said he would not take decisions on Bengal based on the abuses hurled by Banerjee.

"I will only work for the benefit of the people of the state," he said.

The Gujarat chief minister said all these years, the Bengal government has kept itself busy fighting the regime in Delhi which has kept Bengal "trapped in quarrels".

Promising that if he came to power in Delhi, his government would try to redress in 60 months the injustice that has been done in Bengal in 60 years.

Modi said that if there was a strong government in Delhi, then Banerjee will also have to stop her drama and run the government seriously.

"If I do good work, she will also be forced to do so. If I work well, and force her also to work well, won't that be a double gain for you?" he asked.