Mamata offers shelter to pavement family after minister’s viral video

TMC chief Mamata Banerjee offered shelter and support to a pavement-dwelling family after West Bengal minister Agnimitra Paul reprimanded the woman for heating milk on a pavement. Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari hit back, questioning why Banerjee could not accommodate the family herself

Kolkata: TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday offered to help a pavement-dwelling family that was reprimanded by a West Bengal minister, even as Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari questioned why she could not herself accommodate the affected people instead of asking her party workers to shelter them.

The war of words owes its roots to a viral video of Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Agnimitra Paul, in which she was seen reprimanding a woman heating milk for her child on a pavement using a kerosene stove in Park Street area of central Kolkata. The minister, who had gone there for an inspection last week, instructed her to put out the stove and clear the pavement.

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The incident evoked strong responses on social media as well as from the political opposition, with a section of netizens and activists questioning how a minister could deprive a hungry infant of its milk. Condemning the incident but without directly naming Paul, Banerjee, while holding a Facebook Live session, said, “It does not befit any public representative to voice hatred towards poor people. It’s not a crime to be poor.

The mother who was boiling milk for her child on the street is helpless and even that was not allowed. Didn’t you feel bad throwing away the milk? One should remember that a mother’s curse is the greatest curse.” Extending support to the impoverished family, Banerjee said that, if the pavement-dwelling family agrees, she would arrange a shelter for them at the home of one of her party workers, provide them with food and take full responsibility for the child’s future education.

Hitting back at Banerjee, Adhikari, while addressing a press conference at state secretariat Nabanna said, “Why doesn’t she take them into her own home and keep them there?” “In Halisahar, she (Banerjee) herself was not allowed to enter the home of her own party worker. The family of the deceased spoke to me. They accepted financial assistance. I offered them a job, and they also provided the necessary documents,” he said. Adhikari was referring to his visit to the family of a TMC worker, who died in police custody, in Halisahar in North 24 Parganas district earlier this month.

Banerjee, too, visited the bereaved family and their visits later became a point of political contention, with both sides highlighting their respective relief and support efforts. “Even her own party workers do not trust her. What is the point of making such statements?” Adhikari added on Monday.

In a sharp jibe at the TMC supremo, Adhikari said, “She has grown quite old now and should talk less.” The verbal duel — that has split opinions over the issue of humanity versus maintaining the safety and accessibility of the city’s pavements — came in the wake of Paul clarifying on Monday that she had issued the direction because of the risks the act posed on a busy thoroughfare.

In a video message on social media, the minister said no child had been deprived of milk, and that she had only asked them to “move away”. She, however, acknowledged that her language and manner while speaking to the woman should have been gentler and more empathetic.