Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee shared a stage on Friday during the convocation at the Visva Bharti University in the state’s Birbhum district.
Even though the meeting between the political duo came on the heels of reports of massive electoral malpractices supposedly carried out by the TMC during the recently concluded Panchayat polls, the netizens’ focus mainly remained on the political relationship between the duo.
The incident in question which fuelled this speculation involved Mamata Banerjee receiving PM Modi while he landed from his helicopter in Shanti Niketan:
#WATCH PM Narendra Modi arrives in Shanti Niketan to attend the convocation of Visva Bharati University, received by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee pic.twitter.com/dnDE1pZmyf
— ANI (@ANI) May 25, 2018
Following the aforementioned video by ANI, the most prominent point noticed by Twitter users involved PM Modi supposedly trolling Mamata by making her walk to the helipad. This gesture by the PM came in the light of Mamata lambasting Karnataka’s DGP after she was made to walk a short distance while attending HD Kumaraswamy’s swearing-in-ceremony. This episode supposedly led to the transfer of the DGP, a claim which has now been refuted.
Predictably various users had a bit of fun while pointing out how Modi trolled Banerjee:
Could Mr Modi be transferred now? #neverknow https://t.co/Ff5sAG26EK
— Smita Prakash (@smitaprakash) May 25, 2018
Modi trolling Didi (with Audio)
Must listen. ?? pic.twitter.com/JVh1URN41b— THE SKIN DOCTOR (@theskindoctor13) May 25, 2018
But interestingly the analysis didn’t end here and some felt that Mamata had disrespected Modi by making him wait after his landing:
Arrogance of Mamta? PM’s came down from his vehicle and waited for her to come, It not normal, Usually CMs stand their and wait for the PM to come down. We can expect such things from her. https://t.co/u2Y0PyAZOF
— संवैधानिक डकैत (@Shivam_h9) May 25, 2018
Shocking lack of protocol and grace. A CM arriving late to welcome the PM. https://t.co/GOyFNam2dg
— Mohan Sinha (@Mohansinha) May 25, 2018
Probably the most fascinating of the lot was when a few people wondered whether the jovial interaction between the PM and Mamata meant that the duo had some form of a political understanding, which might lead to a future alliance:
When CM Mamata Banerjee and PM Modi are together, their body language is not that of foes but friends. Just a casual, off-the-cuff observation.
PS: I had made a similar comment about CM Nitish Kumar and PM Modi long before the two came together. https://t.co/8KqJRfBEHm— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) May 25, 2018
Happy Mamata! What’s cooking??? https://t.co/2ri7llWl8b
— Divya (@divya_16_) May 25, 2018
Whatever might be the truth about their political equation, it was worth noting in the video that Mamata took PM Modi’s joke in good spirit even though she is known to be very intolerant about such matters. This might either be owing to the protagonist being the PM of the country or as some are claiming it was Mamata “keeping her cards open” with 2019 looming over the horizon.
