Mamata emphasises unity & communal harmony, counters disruptions in historic Oxford address

Kolkata: During her historic address at Oxford University, on Thursday, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee emphasised unity and communal harmony. She remarked that it is “easy to break but difficult to keep unity intact.”

“If I die, before my death, I want to see unity. Unity is our strength, and division leads to our fall. This was Swami Vivekananda’s belief. Maintaining unity is challenging, but dividing people takes only a moment. Do you think the world can sustain such a divisive ideology?” she said.

Banerjee showed great resilience and political acumen in the face of an attempted disruption caused by a section of the audience who tried to halt her speech by various pretexts.

Referring to disruption, Banerjee during her speech said that this could be an attempt by the Left or BJP-minded people to create chaos but she would remain unperturbed.

“You cannot disrespect your institution. Some Left friends and some communal friends might have attempted this. I will come to the university twice every year. Didi is just like Royal Bengal tigress,” Banerjee said to a section of the audience referring to them as Left-mined and BJP.

She also said that 10-12 people tried to trigger chaos which was a miniscule number compared to the audience. She also urged all to ignore them.

She also asserted that she only bows to the people of Bengal and nobody else. University officials however apologised to Banerjee for the hindrance created by a section.

When Banerjee was highlighting the investment proposals received by her government during the Bengal Global Business Summits (BGBS), a section of the audience caused some disruption.

They said that Tatas have moved out of West Bengal and there are no industries now.

Banerjee replied by saying that their claims were not true.

Please find out, there is Tata Consultancy Service, Cognizant in Bengal,” she told them.

They also raised the RG Kar Medical College incident to which Banerjee said that she would not speak on a sub-judice matter.

Stressing on communal harmony she said: “Our mission is to see there should not be any discrimination among students, women, farmers and workers. We must consider all the people as human beings. Without humanity, this world cannot run, continue or sustain. I believe so. That is why we started saying that Bengal is a place for Maa Maati Maanush.”

“When I am in the Chair, I cannot divide the society. I have to look after weaker sections and poor people. We have to work hard for them. At the same time, we have to work for all religions, castes, and creeds together. We have to go ahead with them and help them,” She further pointed out.

In the presence of the President, Kellogg College, Jonathan Michie and Bynum Tudor Fellow Lord Karan Bilimoria, Banerjee urged the Oxford University authorities to open a campus in Kolkata.

Speaking on ‘Social Development: Children & Women’s Empowerment’ at Oxford University’s Kellogg College, Banerjee presented a detailed account of the development schemes of her government and projects that have made a big difference to the people of Bengal.

She further pointed out that Bengal reduced the unemployment rate by 46 per cent from 2017/18 to 2023/24. more than 2 crore of employment were generated.

“State has to depend on self-help groups,” she said, adding: “We have set up 1.2 million self-help groups. Bengal is number 1 in small scale industries, IT sector we have done great deal of improvement. Kolkata has become an IT hub and education hub. Institutional delivery stood at 60 per cent when our government came to power but now the figure has reached 99 per cent and within a year it will reach 100 per cent.”