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On April 16, 2026, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was briefly panicked during her current padyatra to the Jalpaiguri district when a young man stormed past the lines of security personnel trying to reach her.

The man seemed to be trying to touch her feet as a sign of respect, which is a typical behavior of Indian culture. To his surprise, Banerjee threw back, instinctively, her hand up, her chest tightly gripped in fright. Her security guards acted instantly and tied down the person and took him off the ground.

The chief minister hesitated a little and thereupon continued her padyatra. The video of the incident has become viral on social media, stoking debate on security measures and crowd management during her various outreach programs to the people prior to the state assembly elections. The incident did not cause harm, and the man has not been found guilty of a malicious intent yet.