Kolkata: Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday formed a group of five senior cabinet ministers and a task force comprising five senior bureaucrats and cops and tasked them with monitoring the situation in the state and coordinating with her during her week-long trip abroad.
Banerjee is leaving for the UK on Saturday and is likely to be back here next Friday. She has been invited to deliver a lecture at Oxford University next Thursday and is scheduled to meet industrialists over the course of the week to seek investment for Bengal.
This will be her second visit to London and comes after a gap of eight years.
Banerjee, while announcing the formation of the group of ministers and the task force, condemned the Nagpur riots and cautioned people against "enemies of the people" in Bengal, who were trying to "(instigate) riots all the time". She also slammed those who were always trying to denigrate her but ended up defaming Bengal. "Neither jealousy nor the habit of lying has any cure," she said; these "problems" could be cured only by voters.
"Stop insulting Bengal. There is no difference between ultra-Marxists and the new communal party that wants to divide the country," she added. "I rarely get to go out, not even to Delhi, because of this sinister group trying to (instigate) riots all the time; I have to be in Kolkata round the year," Banerjee said, adding that she meant to be back next Friday before Basanti Puja and Eid. "There was an invite from another country but we had to cancel that," she said.
Banerjee then reminded everyone of what Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said at a Niti Aayog meet: "He said that we (CMs) should travel (to attract investments). I am travelling in accordance with his advice. We sometimes need to travel for the state's benefit."
Banerjee announced the formation of the group of ministers (Firhad Hakim, Aroop Biswas, Chandrima Bhattacharya, Sashi Panja and Sujit Bose) and the task force (comprising land and land reforms department secretary Vivek Kumar, finance secretary Prabhat Mishra, home secretary Nandini Chakraborty, state director-general of police Rajeev Kumar and Kolkata Police commissioner Manoj Varma).
The two groups will monitor all developments and consult the CM if any policy change or intervention is needed because of any untoward incident, she said. "They will convene regularly and monitor the situation. They will coordinate with us," Banerjee said. State chief secretary Manoj Pant is travelling with her.
Banerjee "condemned" the Nagpur violence. "Our country is known for unity in diversity. I had hit the streets after the Babri Masjid demolition," she said. "I do not want to comment on the Nagpur situation," she said, adding that it was up to (Shiv Sena-UBT chief and INDIA alliance partner) Uddhav Thackeray.
She then focused on those who were trying to defame the state and made it clear that upholding Bengal's image was everyone's responsibility. They were trying to "insult her" and busy playing "dirty games on WhatsApp and mail". "They have drafted a mail abusing us and sent it to Oxford. I do not mind their targeting me but they end up denigrating Bengal. Voters have given them a befitting response in the past and will do so again," she said.
"St Xavier's gave me one (honoris causa), so did Calcutta University. I am from the Bengali medium, a commoner. Don't humiliate commoners. Education should not be used to humiliate others. Do not insult our motherland, Bengal, in your efforts to insult me. We, too, have our people everywhere, we can play the same game but we have never done so. Trickery is okay sometimes but never has any permanent impact," the CM said.