Mamata Banerjee offers shelter after minister evicts pavement family

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has offered to shelter a pavement-dwelling family after a viral video showed West Bengal minister Agnimitra Paul evicting a woman heating milk for her baby on a Park Street pavement. In the video, Paul is seen removing the family's belongings as media cameras rolled. Banerjee said during a Facebook Live session that it does not befit a public representative to hate the poor, and that she would arrange a home for the family with a party worker, provide food and fund the child's education.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari hit back, questioning why Banerjee would not take the family into her own home. He referred to an earlier visit by Banerjee to a TMC worker's family where she was reportedly not allowed entry into the party worker's home. Paul later clarified that she asked the woman to move away from the busy thoroughfare due to safety risks, and acknowledged that her language should have been gentler.