The humble jhalmuri, the quintessential Bengali snack made of puffed rice, has added spice to this election season with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday dismissing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s viral jhalmuri stop in Jhargram on Sunday as a “staged drama”.
“It’s all drama. How come a camera was fitted inside the shop when the Prime Minister suddenly made an unscheduled stop during the campaign? The entire episode was scripted. The SPG prepared the jhalmuri for him… He (Modi) was seen carrying a Rs 10 note in his pocket. Is it believable?” Banerjee said as she addressed a TMC election rally in Murarai Assembly constituency in Birbhum district. On Sunday, PM’s video of stopping at vendor Vikram Shaw’s stall after addressing a BJP rally in Jhargram for jhalmuri became viral. It featured Modi having a light banter with Shaw about eating onions. In the video, Shaw is heard asking the PM, “Aap pyaaz khaate hain (Do you eat onions?),” to which the PM replied, “Haan, pyaaz khaate hain. Dimag nahi khaate bas”.
The vendor later told mediapersons that the PM coming to his stall to have jhalmuri made him feel “special”, and insisted that it was “not political”. The TMC, however, remains unconvinced.
“I am feeling special that the PM came here and had jhalmuri. He also paid. He asked my name, how qualified I was, and how much I earn. I told him that I manage to run my home… I just made one mistake. I didn’t take his autograph,” Shaw told mediapersons.
Meanwhile, TMC MP Babul Supriyo recalled his jhalmuri moment with Mamata Banerjee, which he claimed led to the progress of the East-West Metro project. “So happy to see our PM at last realising the importance of ‘Jhalmuri’ in Bengal. The chief minister did actually rise above politics and offered me jhalmuri in front of the Victoria Memorial, and I utilised the moment to seek her help in resolving the roadblocks to the ‘East West Metro’ project. She graciously did, and the East-West Metro is running smoothly. The Prime Minister couldn’t rise above politics to at least share the fact that I walked into the PMO with an appointment, requesting him to give me the responsibility of EW Metro that was stalled for 3/4 years… But he (PM Modi) had jhalmuri purely for politics. And guess what! I was in Jhargram campaigning for the TMC when his ‘Jhalmuri moment’ happened. Life is indeed a full circle,” Babul Supriyo posted on X.