"Will protest if Rabindranath Tagore's name not restored": CM Mamata on Viswa Bharati placard row

KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee warned the central government to restore Rabindranath Tagore's name on the plaque put up at the Viswa Bharati University.

"Santiniketan has achieved the UNESCO tag because of Rabindranath Tagore...He is the creator of Santiniketan and Viswa Bharti. Since it was Durga Puja, we kept quiet. If they do not restore Rabindranath Tagore's name, our local people will protest holding Rabindranath Tagore's photo," Banerjee said, speaking at a press conference in Kolkata.

The plaque was mired in controversy for not mentioning the Nobel Laureate's name and instead featuring the names of the Chancellor (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) and the Vice Chancellor (Bidyut Chakrabarty).

UNESCO granted World Heritage Site status to Santiniketan on September 17, following which a plaque was installed at the university. Mamata Banerjee also criticized the Minister of State for Rural Development, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, for not hearing the grievances of MGNREGA protesters in Delhi.

She highlighted the government's use of police against opposition ministers and officials while claiming that their own state ministers were unresponsive to concerns.

"They send police to every opposition Ministers' house. But what about your Ministers. Your State Ministers do not have five minutes for us. Even when victims went to meet, after making them wait for three hours they were not allowed to meet the Minister for five minutes. They have become so big," Banerjee said.

The West Bengal Chief Minister also lashed out to Bharatiya Janata Party president for referring to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government as 'asur' (demon). "We have love, respect, belief in our Durga Puja.

Earlier, they used to say that Mamata does not let them do Durga Puja. Now that Durga Puja has received the UNESCO Heritage tag after how much we promoted the festival, their president comes and says during puja that Trinamool Congress is the 'asur' that needs to be eradicated," Banerjee said. "I am inviting all of you to come and visit the state during Durga Puja, to visit pandals. I have no problem. So what is the problem with you? It is because your intention is only to malafide the opposition and all the political parties," she added.

Speaking about the political vendetta of the BJP, the TMC supremo said that though her party has been deprived of national party status before 2026, they will fight back for it. "They snatched away some party's symbol. They took away Uddhav's symbol. We had all-India recognition until 2026. They have reduced it. We will fight and take it back," he said. Banerjee also slammed the central government for asking a document from her nephew and party General Secretary Abhhishek Banerjee which dates back to the time even before he was born.

"Every day they are disturbing my Ministers' house, their wives, their family members. Forget my family members. They did not even spare us during puja. They are asking the same thing. They are asking for 42-year-old papers from the time when Abhishek was not even born," Banerjee said.

The TMC chief said that even if the BJP put increasing number of people in jails during the elections, they will not manage to win in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. "You have elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Fight those politically...How many more people will you put in jail? So that during the election no one stays out? Even if you do this you will not get votes," she said.