St Stephen’s College withdraws invitation to Mamata Banerjee

NEW DELHI: St Stephen’s College has withdrawn an invite extended to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to attend an event and interact with the students of the institute. The Trinamool Congress leadership on Saturday sniffed a BJP-RSS hand behind the cancellation of Banerjee’s engagement and said her voice “cannot be silenced”.

The event, planned by one of the societies of the college, is scheduled to be held on August 1.

Reacting to the development, TMC national spokesperson and leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’brien said, “First, the Vivekananda event in Chicago, then her China visit and now St Stephens. Mamata Banerjee is giving the BJP-RSS (Bharatiya Janata Party-rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) sleepless nights. Let them keep trying, she cannot be silenced.”

Banerjee was supposed to attend the event, but the principal denied permission and the invitation was withdrawn, a source said. The college’s Planning Forum had submitted a request online to the authorities to invite her, but the request could not be processed due to some “server issues”. Later, they wrote a letter seeking permission, but the principal denied permission, the source said.

College Principal John Varghese could not be contacted for a comment. Banerjee will go to Delhi as scheduled. She will be the chief guest at the “Love your Neighbour” conference organised by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India on July 31, O’brien said. According to party sources, she will be in the national capital for three days to personally invite opposition leaders to the “federal front” rally she plans to hold in January in Kolkata.