"Yesterday when I was going to Ghat from airport, I saw some BJP workers - who have nothing else except hooliganism in their brains - stopping my vehicle. They hit my car with sticks and told me to go back. Then I realised that they're gone," she declared.

 

Mamata Banerjee was in Varanasi to campaign for Akhilesh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party, which is widely seen as the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party's biggest rival.

 

Hitting back at the BJP, Mamata told the people 'Ek dhakka aur do' and they (BJP) are gone. She said that in UP now 'Khela Hobe'.

 

"I am not scared. I am not a coward. I am a fighter. I faced thrashings and bullets several times in my life. But I never bowed down. Yesterday, when they were surrounding me, I got down from my car and faced them to see what they can do. They are cowards," she said.

 

Mounting a frontal attack on UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, she said, "He is not a saint. A saint should respect women. I am a woman. Am I not allowed to visit Varanasi, Azamgarh or Mathura? So many people from here go to Ganga Sagar in West Bengal and we welcome them."

 

She said that a saint should have ensured proper cremation of bodies during the pandemic.

 

"Bodies from here flowed into the Ganga River and reached West Bengal. We gave them a respectful cremation," she stated.

 

Mamata said that a true India is one who respects all shrines and religion. "They are going to villages and asking people to vote for BJP because they have taken 'namak'. The people should know that this is only till elections," she pointed out.

 

She asked people to vote for Akhilesh Yadav who is their own son and ensure a better life for themselves.