TMC: Shah taunt smacks of Modi’s ‘Didi, o Didi’ jibe
Times of India | 22 April 2026
Kolkata: Union home minister Amit Shah on Monday addressed CM Mamata Banerjee with an "Ei Didi" call, prompting Trinamool, which found it oddly reminiscent of PM Narendra Modi's 2021 "Didi, o Didi" taunt, to react sharply.
Modi's call during a campaign ahead of the last assembly polls had garnered quite a bit of controversy, with many feeling it deflated the seriousness of BJP's strong anti-incumbency message.
Shah was addressing a rally in West Midnapore's Salboni when he said: "Ei Didi, listen carefully, Bengal is in India. We will not let any Kabir or Akbar build a Babri Masjid here."
Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee took to X to post the clipping of Shah's rally and said, "The PM and the HM speak endlessly about Nari Shakti. They posture on women's empowerment and perform outrage for the cameras... But their conduct tells a different story. The PM publicly mocks a three-time elected woman CM with ‘Didi O Didi,' delivered with visible condescension. The home minister echoes it with ‘Eyy Didi,' reducing a respected neta to a taunt. This is the ‘poriborton' BJP seeks to import into Bengal from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. It is not change, it is a regression in values. (This is) an insult to Bengal. An insult to every woman in this state and across the country."
BJP netas, however, said Shah had referred to the CM only as ‘Didi'.
"Shah had no intention of being disrespectful. This is cheap politicking," said a state BJP senior.
This is the ‘poriborton' BJP seeks to import... It is not change, it is a regression in values. (This is) an insult to Bengal. An insult to every woman in this state