West Bengal election 2026: PM Modi’s jhalmuri break in Jhargram leaves TMC fuming

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday (April 19, 2026) savoured jhalmuri, a popular Bengali puffed rice snack, during a break from back-to-back public meetings in West Bengal.

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Mr. Modi shared photographs and videos of the unlikely event, where he is seen asking the shopkeeper to prepare jhalmuri. The vendor initially declines when the PM offers to pay, before accepting the money upon the latter’s insistence.

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“Amidst four public meetings spanning across West Bengal on a hectic Sunday, I savoured some delicious spicy puffed rice in Jhargram,” Mr. Modi said.

The Prime Minister addressed rallies at Bankura, Purulia, Jhargram, and Paschim Medinipur, where he criticised Trinamool Congress government on several fronts, and called West Bengal’s ruling party “anti-tribal”.

The Trinamool Congress in a statement said that because the Prime Minister had to eat jhalmuri in Jhargram on this day, his official schedule in Jhargram had been extended.

“Meanwhile, both Hemant Soren (the Chief Minister of Jharkhand) and his wife Kalpana Soren, who were slated to fly to Jhargram after meetings in Dantan and Keshiyari, were not given permission to fly their helicopter to Jhargram when Mr. Modi was present,” the Trinamool said.

The TMC said that despite waiting, after a delay of hours, the Sorens had to return to Ranchi. The West Bengal ruling party, for whom the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader has been campaigning for the past several days, said that the “anti-Adivasi” mindset of the Prime Minister had been exposed by the development.