Mamata skipping Netaji Statue event, Centre’s invite ‘not proper’

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on September 8 said she would not attend the inauguration of a Netaji statue in Delhi as she was invited properly, according to an NDTV report.

She reported to have said that she received a letter yesterday from a bureaucrat informing her about today’s event in the national capital saying the invite was “not proper”.

“I got a letter yesterday from an undersecretary yesterday saying the PM will inaugurate the Netaji statue at 7 pm and you must be there at 6 pm. As if I am their servant. How can an undersecretary write to a Chief Minister? Why has the culture minister become so big,” Mamata Banerjee said at a party gathering in Kolkata.

“That’s why I garlanded the Netaji statue here in the afternoon today to offer my respects,” she said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate a 28-foot statue of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose near India Gate and a refurbished Central Vista with the Rajpath road renamed as “Kartvavya Path”, according to ANI.

Mamata Banerjee also took exception to not being invited to meet Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is on a four-day India visit.

“This is for the first time that the Bangladesh PM is here and Bengal has been left out. I heard Hasina ji wanted to meet me. I have very good relations with her family,” said the Chief Minister, according to NDTV. Notably, the Bengal chief minister enjoys good bonhomie with the Bangladesh PM.

Ms Banerjee said she was curious why the BJP-led central government was “worried” about her meeting Sheikh Hasina.

“I don’t want to talk about external affairs or bilateral ties. But I have noticed that the Centre tries to stop me whenever I am invited to any foreign country. I want to know why the Union government is so worried about me meeting foreign dignitaries,” she remarked. – INDIA NEWS STREAM