The jhalmuri vendor from West Bengal's Jhargram, whose modest roadside stall became a national talking point after Prime Minister Narendra Modi stopped there during his Assembly election campaign in April, marked the PM's birthday on Thursday by serving larger-than-usual portions of the popular puffed-rice snack.
The vendor, Vikram Kumar Sahu, who runs the Chavan Lal Special Jhalmuri stall near Raj College More, also displayed photographs from his brief encounter with Modi and shared memories of the visit on social media.
"The Prime Minister came to my shop and had jhalmuri. That moment is unforgettable for me. I wanted to celebrate his birthday here and relive that memory once again," Sahu told customers and reporters.
Modi had halted at the roadside stall while travelling between election events in Jhargram, spending a few minutes speaking with Sahu and sampling the snack. Images and videos of the stop, many shared through the Prime Minister's social media accounts, quickly went viral and turned the little-known stall into a destination for curious visitors.
The unexpected attention transformed Sahu's daily routine. Visitors arrived to recreate the "Modi moment", while calls poured in from across the country. He found himself repeatedly recounting the brief interaction that had suddenly put his shop on the map.
At the height of the campaign, jhalmuri emerged as an unlikely symbol of the BJP's Bengal outreach. The Prime Minister's stop inspired a flood of reels, short videos and social media posts, while the snack began featuring prominently at BJP events across the state.
The episode was followed by a major political shift in West Bengal, with the BJP securing 207 of the 293 seats for which results were declared in the Assembly election, ending the Trinamool Congress's 15-year rule.
While jhalmuri had no role in the electoral outcome, the humble mix of puffed rice, onions, chillies and spices became one of the campaign's most recognisable images.
Five months later, the memories remain fresh at Sahu's stall. Rather than organising a large celebration on the Prime Minister's birthday, Sahu chose a simpler tribute: serving jhalmuri, displaying photographs from the visit and sharing once again the story of the day that changed his life.
For the Jhargram vendor, the most memorable part of the journey is still those few minutes when the Prime Minister stopped by a small roadside stall and turned it into a national talking point.
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