Mamata urges Prez Murmu to protect Constitution

MP  |  27 Mar 2023 | Kolkata: President Droupadi Murmu, who is on a two-day visit to the state, said she was overwhelmed by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s warmth and hospitality, along with the ability to embrace people from all castes, creeds and religions openly and honouring every single cultural form. 

Murmu was given a grand civic reception by the state government in presence of Governor C V Ananda Bose, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court at Netaji Indoor Stadium on her maiden visit to the state. 

Banerjee appealed to President Murmu to protect the Constitution of the country and save it from disaster. “Madam President, you are the constitutional head of this country. I would request you humbly to protect the Constitution and the constitutional rights of the poor people and every citizen of this country. 

We would request you to save it from any sort of disaster. We love to see the unity in diversity that India upholds,” Banerjee said. Murmu expressed her gratitude for the mega reception and said: “I am very happy today. I enjoyed very much when Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee danced with the tribal women and played their musical instrument. This is a testimony of her quality of honouring people from every stratum of society and respecting the culture of every community. I thank the Chief Minister wholeheartedly for this,” the President said in her speech. 

The state government renaming a road near the Netaji Indoor Stadium in the name of tribal leaders Sido Kanhu as Sido Kanhu Dahar (road) also didn’t miss the eyes of the President as she referred to this in her speech and thanked Banerjee for honouring the two tribal leaders while acknowledging their roles in the Santhal rebellion. 

The President added that she feels close to her home whenever she hears Bengali. “I love the language for its sweetness. So, whenever I hear the language, I feel that I am very close to my village. Such is the beauty of this language,” she said. The President took the names of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore for their literary contributions, also acknowledging the contributions of Shahid Khudiram, Binoy Badal Dinesh, Pritilata Wadedar and many other Bengali freedom fighters who took part in India’s struggle for independence. “It is the birthplace of Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore and the workplace of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and so I consider myself lucky to be here,” she added. 

She also took the names of Satyajit Ray, Uttam Kumar and Sourav Ganguly — all hailing from Bengal — for their contributions to their respective fields. Interestingly, Murmu ended her speech with the slogan of Joy Bharat and Joy Bangla. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee referred to the President as the “Golden lady” and said the country has a proud heritage of people from various communities, castes and creeds living in harmony for ages. Banerjee said Bengal is a model and even Bangladesh has sent a team to see the development of BSK (Bangla Sahayata Kendras) in the state. Earlier in the day, soon after her arrival to the city, Murmu paid a visit to Netaji Bhawan, followed by a visit to Jorasanko Thakurbari. On Tuesday, the President will visit Belur Math and then grace the celebration of the completion of 80 years of UCO Bank at the Science City auditorium. Following this, she will attend the annual Convocation of Visva Bharati University at Santiniketan before leaving for New Delhi.

https://www.millenniumpost.in/bengal/mamata-urges-prez-murmu-to-protect-constitution-513173