Kolkata, Apr 21 (PTI) Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday described Narendra Modi as the “biggest brand ambassador” of the incumbent government in West Bengal and said the prime minister buying ‘jhalmuri’ in Jhargram was proof that the TMC rescued the region from Maoist violence.
He accused the BJP of making unsubstantiated political attacks on the TMC dispensation, ignoring the ground realities.
“Those who criticise Bengal’s law and order situation and promise to turn the state into Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh or Madhya Pradesh should recall what life was like here before 2011,” Banerjee said.
Mamata Banerjee’s TMC dislodged the Left Front from power in West Bengal in 2011.
“People in Jhargram, Gopiballavpur, Lalgarh, Binpur and Nitai could not step out after noon at that time. The prime minister’s helicopter would not have been able to land in Jhargram back then. But look at the situation today,” he said.
The restoration of peace in Jangalmahal remains one of the key achievements of the Mamata Banerjee government, the TMC national general secretary said.
“I consider Narendra Modi the biggest brand ambassador of Mamata Banerjee’s government. In the past 15 years, I have never seen him eat ‘jhalmuri’ in Gujarat or Madhya Pradesh. But he did that in Jhargram. This is the success for the people of Maa-Mati-Manush,” he said at an election rally at Lalgarh in Jhargram.
The prime minister on Sunday posted a video on his official X account in which he was seen buying ‘jhalmuri’, a popular Bengali street food made of puffed rice, green chillies, and spices, from a nondescript shop in Jhargram.
The PM, who was accompanied by his security personnel, paid the shopkeeper for the snack. When the man denied taking the money, the prime minister insisted that he accept it. PTI BSM NSD
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