Mamata speak: Bangladesh on Pakistan border

Video clips of her speech have left Kolkata in shock and in splits

She claims to have earned a PhD from a mysterious university in East Georgia (in the US?) and a Master’s from the University of Calcutta, followed by an LLB from Jogesh Chandra Choudhury College of Law here.

 And yet, with these degrees under her belt, West Bengal chief minister left the state and its culturally proud people in shame when she mentioned at a recent summit of industry captains that “Bangladesh is on the border of Pakistan”.

In a recently held ‘Bengal Leads-2012’, Mamata Banerjee, in her speech, which was full of technical, geographical and grammatical errors, said, “If you want to invest in Bengal, through our Bengal gate, we can supply the material to Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and to other parts of the country even the North Eastern states. They also have the potentiality”.

Her attempt at a speech, videos clips of which have become a hit on social networking sites, has shocked Kolkata and its educated middle class, leaving people either in splits or downright angry and dejected not just because of her poor command over English but also the manner in which she showcased the state’s potential for attracting business and investments. And all this at a time
when there has been no indication that business would return to a state starved of investments.

The Trinamool Congress leader, whose obsession for Bengal’s most famous son Rabindranath Tagore isn’t new, earlier said in her extempore speech: “Bengal is the pillar, the gateway for Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh and North East and if you invest here these states and countries will automatically get benefitted”.

In a style that could only have developed in Didi’s school of language, the Bengal chief minister said,
“Mr Jindal is here? You have some land problem? Government, they cooperate with you or not? Fully we cooperate." This was while she addressed Sajjan Jindal, chairman-cum-managing director of JSW Steel, and Sanjay Budhia, MD of the Patton Group. Listeners in impeccable suits and elegant ties suppressed their smiles and some even maintained straight faces, as one gaffe followed another.

In a very unconventional speech she even addressed Sanjay Bhudhia as Mr Patton and delegates from Japan, China, US and UK as “my Japan embassy, my China friends, USA and UK”.

The chief minister who represents 1.22 billion people of West Bengal, maintained that the government is ready to do everything for the development of business in the state.

She candidly asked “What is your problem? As you interested to invest money in Bengal?” And, in a brusque and crude style, she asked them separately whether they were interested in investing in Bengal or not.

During the meeting with representatives of FICCI and CII, she mulled over the need for the development of the tourism industry in the state, which according to her, is lying “empty”.

Stressing the need of a growing tourism industry, Banerjee said, “Tourism is an area where no nurture- it is totally without nurture. We have the potentiality. Kolkata is the cultural hub and this is a sector which we can develop,”  Mamata Banerjee had said.