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Updated: Mar 28, 2016 13:13 IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was going all guns blazing against the Trinamool Congress as well as the Left front on his maiden campaign for the West Bengal assembly polls when he heard the azaan from a neary mosque and he stopped speaking midway.

Canvassing for BJP candidates at the BNR Ground here in West Midnapore district, Modi halted his speech as soon as the sound of azaan was heard and waited patiently for its completion.

Even as thousands of people who had gathered there egged him to continue, Modi gestured with his hands signalling them to calm down.

#WATCH: PM Narendra Modi pauses his speech during Azaan (call to prayer) in Kharagpur (West Bengal).https://t.co/7XYDrf7cmu — ANI (@ANI_news) March 27, 2016

“Excuse me, azaan was on. Because of me, there should not be any problem to anyone’s worshiping, so I paused for a few minutes,” Modi said, before resuming his speech where he castigated the Communists and the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool for destroying Bengal.

Earlier in November 2014, BJP president Amit Shah had taken a similar pause during his address in Kolkata.