Mamata Banerjee loses cool as people shout 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans in West Bengal, calls them 'criminals'

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who has accused the BJP of trying to create a divide between Bengalis and non-Benglis, once again lost her temper over a group of people shouting 'Jai Sri Ram' in the Bhatpara area of North 24 Parganas district on Thursday.

According to reports, the incident occurred when Bengal CM's motorcade was passing through the troubled Bhatpara area of North 24 Parganas district.

The TMC supremo was heading to Naihati to participate in a sit-in against violence on her party workers after the Lok Sabha poll results when she was confronted by a group of men shouting 'Jai Sri Ram'.

Visibly angry, the Chief Minister quickly came out of her car and asked her security officials to note down the name of the men shouting 'Jai Sri Ram.'

"What do you think of yourself? You will come from other states, stay here and abuse us? I will not tolerate this. How dare you all abuse me? All of your names and details will be noted down," she was heard saying.

As soon as the Bengal CM got into her car, the men again started shouting "Jai Shri Ram" slogan, prompting her to disembark from the vehicle once more.

Later, addressing a gathering at Naihati, Mamata Banerjee claimed that a group of BJP workers confronted her convoy and abused her verbally.

"Is this democracy?," she asked.

The TMC chief claimed that those shouting 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans were all ''outsiders and BJP people. 

''They were criminals who abused me. They are not from Bengal,'' Banerjee said.

#WATCH North 24 Parganas: West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee gets off her car and confronts people chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans, Banerjee says'These are all outsiders and BJP people, they are criminals and were abusing me. They are not from Bengal.' pic.twitter.com/haGjQmQYlv — ANI (@ANI) May 30, 2019

The entire incident was caught on camera and widely shared on social media.

The Bhatpara area has been in news during the 2019 polls and reports of clashes between the BJP and the TMC have come from the area since the declaration of the poll results.

The area is the stronghold of the newly-elected BJP MP Arjun Singh, who defected to the saffron party from the TMC weeks before the Lok Sabha election. 

Singh is considered a 'giant killer' since he defeated TMC veteran Dinesh Trivedi in the 2019 polls.