"Your mother is our mother," West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today told Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event where he virtually flagged off the Vande Bharat express connecting Howrah and New Jalpaiguri.
"Please take some rest, I don't know how to condole your mother's death, your mother is our mother. I remember my mother also," she told the PM, who appeared for the event virtually, hours after his mother's death.
Mamata Banerjee also said work on four out of the five railway projects that PM Modi will launch on Friday were started during her tenure as railway minister.
Prime Minister Modi's mother, Heeraben, died in the early hours of Friday. She was 99.
"A glorious century rests at the feet of God... In Maa, I have always felt that trinity, which contains the journey of an ascetic, the symbol of a selfless Karmayogi and a life committed to values," he posted on Twitter, informing about his mother's death.
The PM was scheduled to visit West Bengal to launch a series of projects, but had to leave for Gandhinagar after the news about his mother. The Prime Minister's Office tweeted that he will join today's scheduled programmes in Bengal via video conferencing.
At the event in Bengal, BJP workers shouted 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans, after which Mamata Banerjee refused to go up on stage. Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw tried convincing her to come up on stage, but she did not budge.
Senior BJP leaders and union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and Subhash Sarkar were seen trying to convince the BJP workers not to shout slogans as it was a government programme and not a political one.
Mamata Banerjee addressed the gathering from beside the stage. She condoled the PM's mother's death and thanked him for joining the programme in spite of suffering such a huge personal loss.
Heeraben Modi died at around 3:30 am today at the UN Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Centre in Ahmedabad, according to a bulletin from the hospital, news agency ANI reported. She was hospitalised on Wednesday after her health deteriorated.
"It Pains My Heart...": PM Cites Germany, Lanka Attacks At Christmas Event Rozgar Mela: PM Modi Distributes 71,000 Appointment Letters To New Recruits PM Modi Meets Yoga Practitioner, Other Influencers In Kuwait Allu Arjun Summoned By Hyderabad Police For Questioning In Stampede Case Bengaluru Techie Loses Rs 11.8 Crore After "Digital Arrest" Pakistan May Get 40 5th-Gen Stealth Fighter Jets From China Within 2 Years Trump Says US Ownership Of Greenland Absolutely Necessary, Nation Responds Railway Junior Engineer Recruitment Exam Provisional Answer Key Out Girl, 3, Falls Into 150-Foot Deep Borewell In Rajasthan, Rescue Ops Underway Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.