Mamata Banerjee affirmed that efforts are being made to destroy the political fabric of the state (Archive)
Bolpur:
Faced with attacks by the BJP on how it can call people visiting West Bengal from other states “outsiders”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Monday that she does not attach such a label to “our compatriots” but that he is against alleged attempts to impose an alien thought process on the people of India.
Ms Banerjee, also supreme of the Trinamool Congress, stated that attempts are being made to break Bengal’s own backbone and pride.
When interacting with journalists here in the Birbhum district, he claimed that efforts are being made to destroy the political fabric of the state by creating unrest. Ms. Banerjee and her party often accuse the BJP of bringing “outsiders” into the state ahead of the assembly elections to be held in April-May next year.
When asked about the saffron party questioning how people from other states who come to West Bengal can be classified as outsiders, he said: “We don’t call our compatriots outsiders. We can definitely all go to any state.” What we are saying is that our culture is that of indigence and not the thought process of others that they are propagating, “said the prime minister without giving further details.
Ms. Banerjee stated that attempts are being made to break the foundations of all the country’s institutions and centers of culture and knowledge, “from Pondicherry to Nalanda University and Jawaharlal Nehru University,” by people who, she said, do not know nothing about Rabindranath. Tagore. The Union Interior Minister Amit Shah recently visited the Visva-Bharati University created by Tagore near Bolpur, where he held a management meeting before speaking to the media.
“Efforts are being made to break the backbone, self-pride and history of Bengal. Efforts are being made to disrespect the culture of Bengal by spreading lies and misinformation,” claimed the head of TMC. Without naming anyone, he said that anyone can speak in any language with the help of a teleprompter but it does not help to learn the culture of a state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed Visva-Bharati University’s centennial celebration last week via video conference, quoting extensively from Tagore’s works in Bengali. Bengal is the cultural capital of India and prides itself as a Bengali in being able to accompany people of all states, religions and languages, Ms Banerjee said.
The TMC Supreme said she knows Bengali, English, Hindi and several other languages. He said that if you go to Gujarat and do not visit the Gandhi Ashram in Sabarmati, it will be a mistake on your part and the same will happen if you travel to Maharashtra but decide not to visit a temple in Ganapati.
Maintaining that the Trinamool Congress will be with the protesting farmers, he said: “We want the three laws to be withdrawn.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated channel.)
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