West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of staging a “scripted drama” after his unscheduled stop at a roadside stall to buy and savour a cone of jhalmuri during his campaign trail in Jhargram.
Addressing a rally in Murarai in Birbhum district, the Trinamool Congress chief claimed the entire episode was pre-planned. “How come cameras were present when he made the unscheduled stop? The entire episode was scripted,” she said.
“They placed a mic in the shop, then made SPG make jhalmuri to orchestrate a drama! Sometimes, during elections, he goes into a cave. Sometimes he claims to be a chaiwala. He took out Rs 10 and ate jhalmuri, imagine. That jhalmuri was prepared in advance for him. If that was not the case, why did they place a camera inside the shop? Ask them. All drama!” she added.
Banerjee’s remarks came a day after PM Modi shared a video on his official X account jhargram-west-bengal-election-rallies-bjp-tmc-2898592-2026-04-19″ target=”_self”showing him buying jhalmuri, a popular Bengali snack made of puffed rice, green chillies and spices, from a roadside shop in Jhargram. Accompanied by security personnel, PM Modi was seen offering money to the shopkeeper, who initially refused before the Prime Minister insisted.
MAMATA BANERJEE SLAMS BJP OVER SIR, FAILED WOMEN’S QUOTA BILL
At the Murarai rally, Banerjee accused the BJP of covertly backing “traitors” to field Independent candidates from minority communities.
“This has happened in my area, Bhabanipur, as well. They have come from Murshidabad and Malda. They have commodified religion. I respect humanity. I believe in secularism. I respect every religion, caste, creed and language. But those who have betrayed their own people, betrayed our party, will be rejected by the people,” she said.
On the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, Banerjee alleged that the Election Commission had “first deleted lakhs of names and then branded people as infiltrators as wished by the BJP.”
She said, “But in the wake of the Supreme Court directive and due to my fight, 32 lakh electors of the 60 lakh who had been placed under logical discrepancy, have been retained in the rolls.”
“Sooner or later, all legitimate voters will get re-enrolled in the voters’ list. The BJP should remember the top court has ordered that pending cases will be cleared by the tribunals,” she added.
Referring to the defeated Constitution Amendment Bill, which aimed to fast-track women’s reservation, Banerjee asserted, “We have always fought for reservation for women. We don’t need a bill to give women seats. We already have 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayats and municipalities.”
“In the Lok Sabha, our party has 37 per cent women MPs. In the Rajya Sabha, our women’s representation is 46 per cent. PM Modi should take lessons from us. They don’t have the right to insult women. Since 1998, we have been fighting for this. I fought in the Lok Sabha for the Women’s Reservation Bill.”
“In the name of the women’s reservation bill, they wanted to divide the country. They wanted to divide Bengal as well,” she said.
Terming the BJP’s inability to pass the bill as the “start of PM Modi’s fall,” Banerjee stressed, “After we win Bengal, we will dethrone the BJP in the Centre.”
(with inputs from PTI)
