CM skirts Gurung - Mamata speaks of heart-to-heart love, hill party stays away from event

Mamata in Kurseong on Monday.
Picture by Suman Tamang

Vivek Chhetri, TT, Kurseong, Sept. 14: Mamata Banerjee today lay the foundation for the hill campus of Presidency University, which was not attended by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha but saw the presence of various hill development boards the chief minister had formed.

Yesterday, Kurseong MLA Rohit Sharma had said he was not invited to the event. Morcha chief Bimal Gurung had also made it clear that he would not meet the chief minister.

The Morcha does not want a hill campus of the Presidency University to be set up as it thinks that the Centre would then not make the central university, as laid down in the GTA memorandum of understanding.

Gurung is also peeved with Mamata repeatedly setting up development boards for various hill communities. Gurung has several times said the state government was trying to divide and rule in the hills.

Mamata today did not mention Gurung or his tirade against the government in the past few weeks.

She said: "This is a function of the students, but I would like to say that I have not come here to do politics. "

She said she had got a "lot of love from the hill people. The are very sweet, kind. We have this heart-to-heart relation and it is to strengthen this bond, I am doing all this to develop the hills."

She said she had no problem if the Centre set up a university in the hills. "I have also written for a central university. I will be most happy if it is established. We will continue to try for it but it is in the hands of the Centre. However, why not set up other higher education centres till then."

Mamata today said : "We will make a world-class educational centre in Kurseong. We will also set up a medical college here. Both Victoria Boys School and Dow Hill School will be upgraded till Class XII. I have already sanctioned Rs 2 crore for these institutions."

Anuradha Lohia, the vice-chancellor of Presidency University, was present at the event.

"We plan to set up a telescope here and have an observatory for astrophysics. Lot of work on geology, natural resources, Himalayan diversity and social anthropology will be done and taught here," Lohia said.

Mamata has announced a sum of Rs 30 crore for the education hub.