Mamata’s day at Kurseong Plucking tea leaves, dancing with tribals is very much her cup of tea, the CM proves

EOI, DARJEELING, DEC 7, 2023 : For chief minister Mamata Banerjee it was all about creating bonds even as her nephew forged a relationship between the hills and the plains by wedding a Kurseong resident, on Thursday. Banerjee's nephew Avesh tied the knot with colleague Deepa Chhetri of Kurseong. 

Both are doctors by profession. Away from the hullabulla of the wedding proceedings at the community hall in Naya Bazar, in Kurseong town, the chief minister reached the Makaibari tea estate to interact with the residents and garden workers. 

Popular for her meet-ups, Banerjee tried her hand plucking the famed Darjeeling tea leafs much to the delight of the women garden workers. 

To ensure she did got stand out in her trade white saree, Banerjee wore the traditional "dhaka saree" and "chowbondi cholo" and also carried a "doko" (cane basket) and with like a diligent learner listened to the instruction before deftly plucking the leafs and placing it in the basket. 

"I have written poems on places that I visited in Darjeeling, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri. But today I am very happy that learnt a new thing and got to learn tea plucking. Now I can go to any tea garden and pluck tea leafs," the CM said. 

After her tryst with plucking tea leafs, Banerjee then turned her attention at dancing with the women folk of the Limbu community. With wide smile and self belief, the Bengal chief minister matched steps with the dancers to the applause of the onlookers and audience.

Interestingly, after the 2017 statehood agitation, Banerjee and her TMC party have been given the cold shoulders by the Hills people after her government squashed the movement which resulted in the death of thirteen people. 

However, Banerjee has made it a point to visit the hills as often as possible to attend government programmes. To highlight the wedding of her nephew with a local resident, the CM said, "I now have a blood and heart relation with the hills people. I too have a home in the hills now. I want the people in the tea gardens are happy and smiling. Tomorrow we will distribute parcha patta to the tea garden population in a government programme." 

The wedding ceremony was in accordance with Nepali culture accompanied by the "naumati baja" (nine instruments) in attendance of the TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and other senior leaders and the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha president Anit Thapa. 

Sources said the newly wed couple will take Banerjee's blessing separately later in the evening while a reception will be given on December 16. On December 8, the Bengal CM will attend a government public benefit scheme distribution programme at the Monteviot ground where along with others she will distribute land rights to workers of a few tea gardens. Earlier this year, the Bengal government had announced land right for 5 decimal of land under possession of the workers. 

However, the decision was met with wide spread resentment forcing the state government to recall the notification. Later the the state government issued a fresh notification for survey of land but without mentioning the amount of land.