Did Mamata Banerjee Asked Bengalis To ‘Stay Poor’? 2024 Video Viral With Misleading Claim

An eight second long video clip of West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is making the rounds on social media, where she can be heard saying, “I want you to remain poor. It means you should live on whatever you have at home.” 

Sharing the clip on X, a user wrote, “I want you to stay poor. Whatever food you have at your home, eat and survive”: @MamataBanerjee. More Radical than an Islamist, more poverty driven than a Communist. This is the West Bengal CM and her regime for you. West Bengal deserves better.”

West Bengal BJP also shared the same clip on their official Facebook page on July 23, 2025, alleging that the Chief Minister of West Bengal wants to keep the people of West Bengal poor.

Fact Check/ Verification

A reverse image search of the keyframes of the viral video took us to a longer version of Mamata Banerjee’s speech uploaded on TMC’s official YouTube channel on July 21, 2024. 

Two hours and 57 minutes into the video, Mamata Banerjee can be heard saying, “I’m telling you, I want TMC leaders and supporters to always work for the people. TMC leaders and supporters should maintain friendly relations with the people. I want conscientious people, not the rich. Do you know why? Money may come, money may go– there is no alternative to service for the human. Please remember- we will always do a good job for the humans. All municipalities, panchayats, MLAs, MPs, please listen, from now on, if the party receives any complaint against anyone, we will take appropriate action- keep this in mind.”

Then, at 2:58:14, Mamata Banerjee can be heard saying further, “I want you to stay poor. It means you should live on whatever you have at home. We don’t need to be greedy; we want to be a good friend of the people. As long as you follow this, remember that no one can remove you, no one can overthrow you.”

This confirms that in the speech, Mamata Banerjee was calling on the TMC workers to remain austere and work for the people as opposed to the viral claim, where it alleged that she asked the people of Bengal to remain poor.

Conclusion

Thus, it is clear that Mamata Banerjee did not say that she wants the people of Bengal to remain poor. She has advised TMC leaders and workers to remain austere and work for the people.

Sources
Video posted by AITC, dated July 21, 2024