Filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has reacted in shock and raised questions after Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee refused to resign as Chief Minister following her party’s defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections. Mamata’s TMC was routed by the BJP in the elections, the results to which were announced on Monday.
Also read: Prosenjit Chatterjee says he did not make any calls after WB election results: ‘Don’t put any political colour on me’
What RGV said about Mamata Banerjee
In a post on X, Ram Gopal Varma said, “After so many decades in politics and 15 years as CM, I can’t believe that @MamataOfficial is ignoring that democracy by its very DNA is about institutions and attacking them amounts to attacking democracy.” The incumbent West Bengal CM had earlier refused to step down, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party of ‘looting’ the elections.
About West Bengal assembly election results
The 2026 WB Assembly elections saw the BJP surge to 207 seats, comfortably past the halfway mark of 148. Trinamool Congress (TMC), which has been in power for 15 years, was reduced to just 80 seats, marking a seismic shift in Bengal’s political landscape. However, the transition of power appears far from seamless.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, Mamata Banerjee accused the Election Commission (EC) and the BJP of “looting” the democratic process. Despite the numbers, she insisted that her party remains the moral victor. “I will not resign. I did not lose. I will not go to Raj Bhavan… the question doesn’t arise. We didn’t lose the election. They can defeat us officially through the Election Commission, but morally we won the election,” she asserted.
She also alleged she was “manhandled and kicked in the belly” during the counting process, claiming CCTV cameras were intentionally disabled while her agents were assaulted. “My target is very clear. I will strengthen the INDIA team, just like a small person. I don’t have any chair now, so I am a commoner. So, you cannot tell me that I am using your chair. I am now a free bird. I gave my entire life in service to the people, even in these 15 years I have not withdrawn one paisa of pension. I am not taking one paisa of salary also. But now, I am a free bird. So, I have to do some work, which I will manage to do,” she added.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday lauded the BJP’s spectacular performance in the West Bengal assembly polls.