Mamata Banerjee squarely denied being invited by Visva-Bharati to Thursday’s event where Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the chancellor made a virtual address to mark the varsity’s centenary celebrations.
The chief minister attributed it to the BJP’s “hatred” for her to counter the saffron ecosystem’s claim that she insulted Rabindranath Tagore by giving the event a miss.
In a news meet on Thursday, Mamata was asked if she was invited and yet she chose not to attend it, which the BJP accused her of.
“When did they call? Whatever the BJP says, I have to pay heed to? I have an office. I do not know anything. Yesterday (Wednesday), he (vice-chancellor Bidyut Chakrabarty) sent an intimation, that when I go for a couple of days to Bolpur-Santiniketan next week, if I give him some time to meet. To that, I apologised and said I am unable to give him time...because there are many programmes lined up already,” she said. “This programme today (Thursday), they never invited me. No invite, no phone, none,” she added, hours after the BJP and its various affiliates circulated a purported letter of invite by Chakrabarty to her dated December 4.