Bengal CM turns poetic again, this time on cancellation of foreign trips

Kolkata, Aug 7 (IANS) A day after penning a poem to slam the draft NRC in Assam, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday wrote two more poems on the cancellation of her proposed visits to China, Chicago in the US and St Stephen's College in Delhi.

Poem titled 'Untouchable' in English and 'Naam Nei' (Name not there) in Bengali were posted on the social media.

In 'Untouchable', she wrote: "Do you want to go to China? No comments please. Political diplomacy cancelled it."

The Chief Minister had cancelled her eight-day trip to China in June as the scheduled political meetings under the exchange programme between the two countries was not confirmed "at the appropriate level".

Banerjee also wrote: "Want to visit Chicago? To commemorate 125 years of Swami Vivekananda's address? Religious monopoly shut down the door. Accepted the invitation of St Stephen's College? Not allowed, friend."

The organisers of St Stephen's College event had withdrawn an invite to her.

Reiterating her criticism of the draft National Register of Citizens in Assam, the poem carrying her signature goes as: "Want to protest for Indian citizens in Assam? You are anti-national.

"Fortunately, you were born in West Bengal; otherwise you would have been called intruders."

on Monday, Banerjee's poem titled 'Identity' in both Bengali and English started with a series of questions on surname, religion, language, food habits and political preferences. Those who failed to come up with satisfactory answers would be termed "traitors," it warned.

Her Bengali poem 'Naam Nei' also expressed similar sentiments: "Where do you go? Go digital. ATM is marching ahead. Have your name in Aadhaar card. The country is going ahead, Rastriya Seba Sangh is moving ahead. Want bread, go to shopping mall, get it there."