VARANASI: TMC leader and chief minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee was shown black flags allegedly by the activists of Hindu Yuva Vahini amid chants of "Jai Shri Ram" and "Modi-Modi" when she was going to take part in the Ganga Aarti at Dashashwamedh Ghat in Varanasi on Wednesday evening.
To express her annoyance over the incident, she sat on the ghat steps instead of a chair and watched the Ganga Aarti.
After landing at the Lal Bahadur Shastri International airport, she went straight to the ghat to see Ganga Aarti. When her vehicle was crossing through the Chetganj area, a group of Hindu Yuva Vahini workers started raising slogans like "wapas jao" (go back) and showing black flags. They were restrained by the police present on the spot.
At this point, she stopped the vehicle and came out on the road. She kept on watching them for some time before moving to the ghat.
According to a leader of Samajwadi Party (SP) Manoj Rai Dhoopchandi, who was with Mamata at that time, she said that "it was the fear of defeat that made them act like this". She also raised slogans "Jay UP, Jay Hind" and "Har-Har Mahadev", he told TOI, adding that some BJP workers had also reached the ghat.
No action was taken by the police against anyone in this regard till filing of the report. The Chetganj police said that action would be taken after the identification of the people involved in this incident.
Mamata was in Varanasi to take part in an election rally of the Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday.
