With the end of the fourth phase of Lok Sabha and Assembly elections on May 13, India is set to witness three more phases of polling which will end on June 1. Amid the ongoing war of words involving politicians across parties, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee recently aimed a salvo at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said she is "ready to cook something for him (Modi) if he wanted" while stating that she isn't sure if Modi would eat what she cooked.
Taking a jibe at the Prime Minister for his stand on not consuming non-veg, the TMC supremo said at one of her election rallies in West Bengal's Barrackpore: “I have tried a lot of different dishes from different states because I do not believe in discrimination.”
Excerpts from her speech were further quoted by Times of India that read: “People will eat what they want and how they want. Eat whatever you want. Whoever wants to have vegetarian fare will eat that. Whoever wants to eat meat will have meat. This country belongs to all of us: different languages, different cultures, different attires.”
The West Bengal Chief Minister further clarified that she has been cooking since her childhood. She then targeted Modi and BJP over the number of seats the saffron brigade would win. Referring to BJP's claims in earlier poll rallies of winning over 400 seats, CM Banerjee remarked, “Do sau nahin paar hoga (Even 200 seats are beyond their reach). It is clear BJP is not returning to office. Their faces betray the truth, they have fallen silent on their 400-plus claims.”
Last month, PM Modi slammed Opposition leaders in one of his election speeches after the son of RJD supremo Tejashwi Yadav posted a video inside a moving chopper while he was consuming fish.
"The law does not stop anyone from eating anything but the intentions of these people are something else. When the Mughals attacked here, they were not satisfied until they demolished the temples. So just like Mughals, they want to tease the people of the country by showing the video in the month of 'Sawan'," Modi had said in J&K's Udhampur during one of his poll speeches.
Reacting to Modi's remarks, Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had said that PM Modi has no knowledge about the culture and eating habits of the people of the country. "The PM said those who eat fish during this holy month are not devout Hindus. He said they are Mughals. My question to the PM, does he know that in our culture 'Durga Puja', 'Kali Puja' rituals are not complete without 'maach' (fish), without 'mangshho' (meat) in many Hindu households? What his minister Nisith Pramanik will say about this?" he had asked.
Published 14 May 2024, 06:09 IST