Mamata Banerjee's picture along with #BengaliPrimeMinister trends on Twitter

A day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged all the opposition parties to rise up against the BJP for insulting bureaucrats, the post #BengaliPrimeMinister with a photo of the TMC leader has been trending in Twitter, triggering comments that Mamata might be the face of the opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

The trending started two days back following the spat between the Centre and the state over chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay’s recall by the central government following the Kalaikunda episode. PM Narendra Modi and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar had to wait for the chief minister and the chief secretary for 15 minutes at Kalaikunda ahead of the Cyclone Yaas review meeting.

Hailing Banerjee, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh told ET, “There is only one face in the country –– that of chief minister Mamata Banerjee. She is a strong force countering the BJP in the country. Thus, it is only obvious that she will trend in twitter with people’s wanting her to be the prime minister.”

Twitter was flooded with tweets hailing Mamata Banerjee, especially after she started protesting against the Centre’s move to recall the chief secretary.

Nilanjan Das, a PHD student from Hooghly, tweeted, “Alapan Bandyopadhyay, IAS (retired) is now the Chief Advisor to the Chief Minister for a period of three years. After that, I hope to see him as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. #BengaliPrimeMinister.”

One Sadam Nasim commented that “Bengal definitely wants a Bengali Prime Minister.”

Manoj Tiwary, cricketer turned TMC MLA, took to social media and wrote, “What Bengal thinks today, India thinks tomorrow. Their ‘Sunar’ model failed badly. Under them, India is suffering. But Didi will lead us the way she’s leading Bengal by implementing the Model of Development. Thus in the upcoming days we need, #BengaliPrimeMinister.”

When contacted, political party leaders like Pradip Bhattacharya of the Congress said, “We will definitely love to have a Bengali prime minister. But is that an easy possibility? It is not an easy task for anyone.”

Slamming Mamata Banerjee, state BJP spokesperson Sayantan Adhikari commented that the people hardly know TMC outside the state. He said, “Beyond Alipurduar in Assam and Jharkhand and Bihar, no one knows the Trinamool Congress. The party has no identity beyond Bengal and we are talking about a Bengal Prime Minister.”

Amid the chief secretary recall row, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal has come in support of Mamata Banerjee, saying that “it is time for Centre to support states and not fight with them”. He was the first non-BJP CM to come out and openly back Mamata Banerjee on the issue.