West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stepped down without a speech during Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary celebration event in Kolkata on Saturday.

After the cultural event, dedicated to Netaji at Kolkata’s Victoria Memorial, Banerjee was scheduled to deliver a speech alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

However, inapposite slogans coming from the crowd saw her getting visibly irritated. “I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for inviting me here. But to humiliate an invitee in such a manner is not appropriate. I think a programme such as this should have some dignity. This is not a political programme. As a protest, I refuse to speak,” Banerjee said as she came down from the podium.

Banerjee, though, did not leave the event and, instead, took to her seat on the stage. She continued to be a part of programme where PM Modi commemorated Netaji on his 124th birth anniversary.

Meanwhile, Netaji, being one of the most prominent figures of Bengal since pre-independence, has been a major talking point ahead of the West Bengal Assembly Election.

This year’s January 23 has seen intense power struggle between Banerjee’s TMC and Modi’s BJP with both the parties trying to emerge as the true servant of Netaji’s cause.

Banerjee paid her tributes at Netaji Bhawan and took out a massive rally in Kolkata to observe mark the occasion of Netaji Jayanti, which she celebrated as ‘Deshnayak Diwas’.

At the beginning of her possession, the Trinamool Congress supremo also blew a conch shell and a siren was sounded at 12.15 pm, the time when Bose was born on this day in 1897.

“We do not celebrate Netaji”s birthday only in the years when elections are scheduled. We are celebrating his 125th birth anniversary in a grand fashion. Rabindranath Tagore described Netaji as Deshnayak. That is why we have decided to celebrate this day as Deshnayak Diwas,” she said.

“Netaji was one of the greatest freedom fighters of the country. He was a great philosopher,” she said.

On the other hand, Modi is marking the day as ‘Parakram Diwas’ as he visits Kolkata to pay homage to Netaji. He started his tour with a visit to Netaji Bhawan, the paternal home of the Azad Hind Fauj founder.

The Prime Minister spent around 20 minutes at the Netaji Bhawan, where he was welcomed by Netaji’s grandnephew Sugata Bose. He was accompanied by West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar as well.