Mamata walks out of show, calls students Maoists

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday stormed out of a CNN-IBN show on one year of Trinamool Congress rule, accusing the audience, which consisted of students, to be Maoists and CPM cadre.

The Trinamool Congress chief lost her cool and stormed out of the interactive TV session when members of the audience questioned her on the arrest of Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra and increased rate of crime against women in the state.

Alleging that the professor was a member of the CPM cadre, the West Bengal Chief Minister said, "It is not a cartoon. We love the cartoon. Cartoon is a different thing. He is a CPM man. He misused the e-mail of his society people without their consent. He forwarded it to 60 people."

Mamata also hit out at the CPM, accusing it of working hand-in-glove with the Maoists.

Responding to the question on the cartoon controversy, Mamata slammed the students among the audience saying "I know that Maoist people and CPM are putting up these questions".

The Chief Minister even went on to ask a girl student who had posed the question if she was a Maoist, questioning "why students from outside Jadavpur University are not here".

When asked by the students about crime against women in the state, the Chief Minister got furious saying there was no crime against women in the state, and accusing them of being CPM cadre and asking "Maoist questions".

The West Bengal Chief Minister claimed that it could even be verified that the members of the audience were Maoists and CPM cadres, and they were asking nothing but questions of the Maoists and the CPM.

(With Additional Inputs from PTI)