Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday mocked West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Congress, saying they would have bought the post of the prime minister had it been up for auction.

Addressing a rally in Asansol in West Bengal, Modi said: “Didi [Mamata Banerjee] is dreaming of becoming the prime minister by fighting on a handful of seats. Had this position been up for auction, she and the Congress would have brought the money they looted to the auction.”

Modi said people in the state will suffer when the chief minister is seen hobnobbing and standing in favour of those who are involved in scams. “Corruption and crime are two non-stop things in Bengal under the TMC regime,” he said, according to PTI.

Modi claimed that Banerjee had “turned infiltrators into her cadre” and has now brought in foreigners to campaign on behalf of her party. “Mamata didi should be ashamed,” he said. Bangladeshi actor Ferdous Ahmed had campaigned in West Bengal for the Trinamool Congress. Ahmed was asked to leave India and blacklisted.

The prime minister said Banerjee’s model of development was based on “Trinamool tolabaji [extortion] tax”. “This model is based on the coal mafia, sand mafia, iron mafia and land mafia,” Modi said. “This model will pave the way for infiltrators and then share the loot with them.”

He said: “Your chowkidar says very clearly that West Bengal’s politics will not run on infiltrators any more. Didi’s tradition of relying on hired goons for governance will stop. Now West Bengal’s fortunes and the nation’s direction will be decided only by those who say Bharat Mata ki Jai.”

The BJP has promised to replicate the National Register of Citizens in West Bengal if the party is voted to power at the Centre in order to “smoke out infiltrators”, while party president Amit Shah said earlier this month that the exercise would be implemented across the country.

Modi said the country needed a vision and not division. “It was with the power of your vote that the Army could conduct surgical strikes,” he said. “The power of your vote is such that in three minutes our missile can destroy an enemy satellite.”