Kolkata: Taking the unprecedented verbal battle between Mamata Banerjee and President Droupadi Murmu and its subsequent political and administrative dust-up a notch higher, the West Bengal Chief Minister on Sunday accused PM Narendra Modi of “insulting” the country’s highest Constitutional chair, rebutting his attack against the TMC government on the same grounds.
To support her claim, Banerjee held up an enlarged photograph of the PM remaining seated at an event with veteran BJP leader LK Advani, with the President standing next to them.
The photograph was purportedly of the March 2024 event of President Murmu awarding Advani at his New Delhi residence with the nation’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna.
“The picture shows that the PM is seated when the President is standing. We never do that. It is the BJP which carries the culture of insulting the President, not us,” she claimed, while displaying the photograph as “evidence”.
Earlier in the day, Modi lashed out at the TMC government over the treatment meted out to President Murmu, saying the “enlightened people” of the state will never forgive the party for “insulting” a woman tribal leader and the President of the country.
Modi’s remarks came after President Murmu expressed displeasure over the change of venue of a conference of the tribal Santal community in the north Bengal town of Siliguri on Saturday and the absence of Banerjee and her cabinet ministers during her visit.
Speaking from the platform of the ongoing anti-SIR dharna in central Kolkata, Banerjee asserted there was no breach of protocol at the President’s programme, adding that the responsibility of mismanagement at the function, if any, lay with its private organisers and the Airports Authority of India who provided the venue of the event.
“The PM had put out a tweet on Saturday, and I have responded to it. I said the programme wasn’t organised by the state, it was arranged by a private organisation. The state had sent a letter stating that the private body lacks the capability of organising such an event. They did not involve us,” she said.
Despite the input that the organisers are incapable, it was the choice of the President to accept that invitation, the chief minister said.
“How can we be made responsible for the allegation that people did not turn up at the event? The responsibility lies with the organisation which planned it. They never asked us to send our people to the venue, except providing us with information about the function,” Banerjee said.
She was speaking barely an hour before the Centre-set 5 pm deadline of the state government to respond to the “violations” of the rules related to protocol, venue and route arrangements during the President’s visit ended.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the state has officially furnished its response although Banerjee took to social media platforms on Saturday to put out the official documents in support of her claims.
“I cross-checked the complaints about washrooms, and I can confirm that the President was holding her function at a venue which is under the jurisdiction of the Airports Authority of India. The greenroom was set up by the organisers. Amit Shah held a meeting at the same venue a few days ago. If anything went wrong there, it’s their failure. Don’t blame us,” Banerjee continued.
Besides expressing her anguish at not finding either the chief minister or any of her ministers to receive her at the Bagdogra Airport, where the President arrived to attend an international tribal conference, Murmu had also expressed her displeasure over the change of venue of her event near Siliguri.
“We give full respect to the chair (of President) and the Constitution, which we treat as our mother. You are targeting Bengal ahead of the assembly elections by saying whatever pleases you. Why? Why? Why?” Banerjee said, without specifying exactly who she referred to.
“We did not pick the venue, you did,” she added.
Defending her stand that no protocols were breached, the chief minister said the mayor of Siliguri, Goutam Deb, was present to receive Murmu at Bagdogra.
“I am sitting in a dharna and fighting to protect people’s rights. How can I leave? I wasn’t even aware of your arrival before this dharna. We are fighting for all, irrespective of their religion or any other identity. This is my priority since it involves thwarting people’s fundamental rights,” Banerjee maintained.
She also lashed out at Modi for allegedly criticising her for observing International Women’s Day.
“The PM questions our Women’s Day celebrations. Of course, we will celebrate. We shower our respects to both our brothers and sisters. They run our country, our society, our families. You have no right to criticise us for celebrating Women’s Day,” she said.
