Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was not invited to the centenary celebrations at the state’s prestigious Viswa Bharati University, the ruling Trinamul Congress claimed on Thursday.
Addressing a press briefing at Calcutta, state minister and party leader Bratya Basu claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed the centenary event of the university via video conference, made “factual errors” during his speech.
“Mamata Banerjee did not receive any invitation for the centenary meet of Viswa Bharati,” Basu claimed.
The BJP was, however, quick to produce a letter of invitation to the Chief Minister, and instead alleged her of not respecting Targore’s institution by staying away from the event.
Responding to a query on these lines, he said, “Even if the invitation, as you suggest, was sent last night, should that be the decorum? After all, she (Mamata) is the chief minister of a state.”
According to claims made by the senior TMC member, the Prime Minister “denigrated” the Bengali culture during his speech in more ways than one.
"Gujarat cropped up often in the PM's speech. Why is he confining Rabindranath Tagore to Gujarat? He said Satyen Tagore's wife (Rabindranath Tagore's sister-in-law) learnt how to drape sarees in a certain fashion from Gujarati women. The fact is that she learnt it from the Gujaratis as well the Parsis. But the prime minister wouldn't mention Parsis,” Basu said.
“The PM also spoke about the universities of Delhi and Lahore during his address, but failed to make a mention of Calcutta University, which played an important part in the country's freedom movement,” he claimed.
