Before leaving for UK, Mamata urges Oppn not to ‘try to insult Bengal abroad’

“The Chief Secretary will accompany me. In his absence, Land Secretary Bibek Kumar, Finance Secretary Prabhat Misra, Home Secretary Nandini Chakraborty, DGP Rajeev Kumar, and Police Commissioner of Kolkata Manoj Verma will look after the administration. I also made a task force of five Ministers. Chandrima Bhattacharya, Sashi Panja, Firhad Hakim, Sujit Basu and Aroop Biswas will sit at Nabanna and look after everything,” the chief minister said while addressing a press meet at the state secretariat, Nabanna.

“The party (TMC) affairs will be looked after by Subrata Bakshi and Abhishek Banerjee,” the CM further added.

CM Banerjee will fly to Britain on Friday, March 21, and will return to Bengal on March 28. She is set to address a business meet on March 25, organised by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) in association with the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). The event aims to attract investments and facilitate business collaborations between West Bengal and the UK.
Banerjee will also deliver a lecture at the University of Oxford on March 27, as part of her UK visit.

CM Banerjee criticised the BJP and the Left for attempting to tarnish her reputation and the state’s image over her upcoming visit to London to deliver a lecture at the University of Oxford, saying that attacking a leader ahead of a foreign trip damages the country’s image.
“When we visited Singapore, a false narrative was spread about us, as if ‘Bangla’ itself carried a negative connotation. People need to realise that if Maharashtra is India’s financial capital, Bengal is its cultural heartland,” she said.

In 2014, Mamata Banerjee visited Singapore on her maiden foreign tour for five days to attract investment. The Opposition, including members of the BJP, the Congress and the Left, had slammed the visit by calling it a “drama”, alleging that the composition of her 60-member delegation showed a “lack of seriousness”.

Banerjee also alleged that political opponents had circulated defamatory emails about her government. “These messages have reached us from abroad as well. Do our adversaries think we have no connections outside India? Maligning Bengal’s reputation will not be tolerated. You can insult me if you wish, but do not insult Mother Bengal,” CM Banerjee warned.

In September 2023, Mamata Banerjee visited Spain for a business summit and spoke with different delegations in Madrid and Barcelona. She was accompanied by former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly and other leading businessmen and industrialists of Bengal. At the Dubai airport, she had also met with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe. “Last time during the Spain tour, Sourav Ganguly joined us. Now, we are again expecting Ganguly to join us in London.. Many leading businessmen will also accompany this tour of London,” said sources in the administration.

Meanwhile, at the press meeting, Mamata Banerjee also criticised how farmers were evicted from the Punjab border. “They are in deep trouble. Nobody hears their demands… (they) should be addressed.”