Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today addressed police officials at a Bijoya Sammilani programme held at Siliguri Police Line. She extended her greetings to all present and their families. She was highly appreciative of the unity and festive spirit displayed during Durga Pujo celebrations across the length and breadth of Bangla.
She said that when eight to 10 crore people were on the streets visiting Durga Pujo pandals, night after night, she was busy ensuring that no untoward incident took place. She kept a track of all the clubs that organised the pujos.
Since Kali Pujo is on a Sunday, and Chhath Pujo on November 2, she said amid cheers from the audience that she had given additional state holidays during that week. Pubali, Rajbanshi, Kamtapuri, Gurumukhi, Hindi and Urdu have been given the status of official language, she added.
North Bengal has seen a lot of development, she said, mentioning the airports at Balurghat and Cooch Behar, the Jalpaiguri Circuit Bench, and the highway connecting the districts of Siliguri, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar to Nepal and Bhutan.
Regarding NRC, she assured everyone that no such thing would be introduced in Bangla. “I would ensure that,” she said.
Mamata Banerjee highlighted the religious and cultural diversity of Bangla. Be it Kazi Nazrul Islam or Rabindranath Tagore or Panchanan Barma, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Ramakrishna, Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar or Raja Rammohan Roy, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose or Birsa Munda, Matangini Hazra or Pritilata Wadedar – Bangla has always been the land of glorious traditions and path-breaking action.
She said that the Central Government was busy playing the game of dividing people on communal lines, which goes against the spirit of India. This was apparent even for the NRC implemented in Assam.
The Chief Minister also highlighted the pathetic condition the country’s economy was in, and contrasted it with the comparatively better state of things in Bangla. While there was over 45 per cent unemployment in the whole country, in Bangla there has been an increase in employment by 40 per cent. Several other indicators showed that the State was performing better than others.
She said someone had mockingly said that Bangla could no longer produce scientists and yet, just three days later, the Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to a son of the State. She concluded by saying that Bangla would one day show the world the way towards progress.
