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PM Modi's jhalmuri reel hits 100mn, Mamata notes ‘cameras were there already' for ‘scripted drama’
It's all drama: Mamata on PM making pit stop to buy 'jhalmuri' during Bengal poll campaign
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday took a jibe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's “unscheduled” stop to buy ‘jhalmuri’ — the beloved snack of Bengalis and others in the eastern parts of the Indian subcontinent — during poll campaigning in Jhargram.
"How were cameras present when he made the ‘unscheduled’ stop? The entire episode was scripted," she said at an election rally in the Murarai assembly constituency on April 20.
The prime minister's video on his Instagram account alone hit 100 million (or 10 crore) views since Sunday evening, several BJP backers online noted on Monday. A similar number was reported on Facebook.
Others noted a camera angle from inside the shop and claimed it looked like a setup.
‘SPG arranged the whole thing’
PM Modi paid in cash for a serving of the street food made of puffed rice, green chill, and a dozen or more spices or smaller ingredients. Trinamool Congress chief Banerjee took a jibe at his payment mode too. “He was seen carrying a ₹10 note in his pocket. Is it believable? It's all drama.”
The video showed that when the PM, who was accompanied by his security personnel, paid the shopkeeper for the snack, the man denied the money; but Modi insisted that he accept it.
Mamata Banerjee questioned the spontaneity of the whole episode: “Cameras were placed there beforehand. The SPG [Special protection Group, responsible for providing proximity security to the PM] had arranged for the whole thing.”
Soren chopper row
The incident triggered another controversy when the ruling TMC accused the PM of “anti-tribal mindset” as, allegedly due to his jhalmuri stop, Jharkhand CM and tribal leader Hemant Soren's helicopter was unable to land in Jhargram. Soren and his wife, Kalpana, were made to wait for hours and eventually had to cancel their programme and return to Ranchi, the TMC posted on the social media platform X.
West Bengal votes in two phases, on April 23 and 29, amid a row over deletion of lakhs of votes that the TMC has blamed on an alleged collusion between the BJP and the Election Commission.
Countng of votes is scheduled for May 4, along with that in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, and Puducherry.
Banerjee has been CM since 2011 after breaching the Left fortress of decades. The BJP climbed to 77 seats in the assembly of 294 in 2021, up from a mere three in 2016, but the TMC also increased its seats. The TMC's primary pitch against the BJP is that it's a groups of outsiders, while the Hindutva ideology-driven BJP has been alleging corruption and favouritism towards Muslims by the TMC.
