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‘Mamata my sister, maybe she’s angry’: President Droupadi Murmu flags ‘protocol breach’, Santhal event venue shifted in Bengal
The President was in the state for the 9th international Santhal Conference on Saturday. The incident sparked a controversy, with the opposition BJP calling it an insult to the head of the country
President Murmu said, “I can see from here, many Santhals are moving away. I think someone is stopping them... People don’t want Santhals to be united, Santhals to be educated, Santhals to be strengthened.”
Stating that Mamata Banerjee may be angry with her, President Droupadi Murmu expressed her disappointment over the West Bengal Chief Minister and other ministers not giving her a formal welcome when she visited the state for the 9th international Santhal Conference on Saturday.
She also said the venue for the programme was shifted by administration, and many Santhals were allegedly stopped from attending. The programme was initially supposed to be held in a field in Bidhannagar but the administration shifted the venue to Gosainpur in Siliguri.
The incident sparked a controversy, with the opposition BJP and Congress hitting out at the CM. The state government and Banerjee are yet to react to the President’s comments. On Saturday, the CM remained on a sit-in demonstration at Esplanade in Central Kolkata against “arbitrary deletions” in voter rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the state.
During her address, President Murmu said, “I can see from here, many Santhals are moving away. I think someone is stopping them… People don’t want Santhals to be united, Santhals to be educated, Santhals to be strengthened.”
After the programme, she visited the Bidhannagar field and planted a tree. Later, she spoke to the people present there and said, “The programme was scheduled to be held here. This is a big field where 5 lakh people could have been accommodated. But the administration shifted the venue… They said this venue was congested. There are many intelligent people here [in the administration]. But I don’t know why this happened.”
“That venue [Gosainpur] is far away. Maybe they thought that the President would come and leave as there would be no one. I am really sad. Generally, when the President visits somewhere, the Chief Minister comes, ministers come. The Chief Minister did not come. I understand that the Governor has been transferred and that is why he could not come. The date for the programme was fixed earlier… But no issue. I am also Bengal’s daughter. Mamata Banerjee is my sister… my younger sister… Maybe she is angry with me. But it’s okay, I wish her well,” she said.
Earlier, during his speech at the conference, the main organiser, Naresh Murmu, expressed anger at the local administration, alleging, “Police changed the venue of this programme four times. They don’t even build a separate washroom for the President. This is very unfortunate. Now, they are stopping our people from entering this venue, saying they don’t have a security pass but they did not even arrange any security passes.”
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Hitting out at the government, senior BJP leader Rahul Sinha, speaking to The Indian Express, claimed: “An anti-India government is running in Bengal. It is an insult to the head of the country, the President, though I am sure this breach took place with full knowledge of the Chief Minister. Strict action should be taken against officials who are responsible for this situation today.”
Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, while speaking to media persons, said, “The President is the head of the country. She holds the top post. What happened is unbecoming to the post…”
However, TMC spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said, “The whole situation was created because of the Election Commission of India. Our Chief Minister is now fighting for the people’s rights. We know our President is a very good human and she would understand the compulsion of Mamata Banerjee.”
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