Mamata Banerjee: Amit Shah took food & cook from outside & “pretended” to eat food cooked at tribal home

Union Home Minister Amit Shah “showed” people that he was eating food cooked by tribals at a Bankura home, though what he had actually eaten was taken from outside, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleged today.

Speaking at a meeting in Khatra of Bankura district, Banerjee said that while people saw the tribal family chopping vegetables and spreading coriander over several dishes, in reality Shah did not eat the food cooked there. Instead, food from outside – including basmati rice and poppy seat fritters (postor bora) – was eaten by the Union Home Minister. She alleged that the food and the cook had been taken there. She said that the family was told they would be offered help to their child who was suffering from some ailment and that the Union Home Minister would eat lunch in their home.

Shah had visited West Bengal on a two-day trip on November 5 and 6 and had taken lunch in the home of a tribal family in Bankura’s Chaturdhi village on the first day. Banerjee also criticised the fact that Shah had garlanded the statue of a nameless tribal hunger under the impression that it was a statue of Birsa Munda, an anti-colonial leader.

She said that it was an insult to the tribal leader and to the people of Bengal, and added that her party workers had decided to set up a statue of Birsa Munda there, and from next year, the leader’s birthday would be a holiday in the state calendar.

BJP leaders meanwhile said that Banerjee was losing support among the tribal people and none of her allegations would help her get people’s support in the region.