St. Stephen's withdraws invite to Mamata, TMC sees BJP-RSS hand

St Stephen's College has withdrawn an invite extended to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to attend an event and interact with the students of the institute.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 event, planned by one of the societies of the college, will be held on August 1.

Banerjee was supposed to attend the event, but the principal denied permission and the invitation was withdrawn on Friday, a source said.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 to invite her, but the principal denied permission, the source said.

College Principal John Varghese could not be contacted for a comment.

The Trinamool Congress (TMC) leadership on Saturday sniffed a BJP-RSS hand behind the cancellation of party supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's engagement by St Stephen's College in New Delhi and said her voice "cannot be silenced".

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 sleepless nights. Let them keep trying, she cannot be silenced."

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.

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, according to party sources, reports PTI.