In Munich, Mamata Banerjee touched upon the passion that Bengal and Germany share - Soccer.
Having been the champion of farmer's rights till last week, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today laid out the red carpet for industry in Munich. And she threw in a bit of German to make a point. "Consider Bengal your homeland. Come to Bengal, see Bengal and invest in Bengal," she told a packed room at an event organised by the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Aiming to attract foreign investment from Germany for West Bengal, Ms Banerjee spoke to the gathering of German and Indian businessmen in her usual style. The Chief Minister, who is travelling with a 29-member business delegation that includes Tata Metaliks MD Sanjiv Paul and Tata Steel India and South Asia MD T V Narendran, told potential investors, "If you think about India, think about Bengal. Bengal is the destination to go to right now. From the economic, geographical and production point of view Bengal is the place to invest in."
"Bengal is the gateway to Asian countries. Bengal is Gateway to Bangladesh, Myanmar, Bhutan and Nepal and the seven sisters of northeast part of India", Ms Banerjee added while emphasising on the fact that investing in the economy of Bengal would help the economies of neighboring states and countries like Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Invoking Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who visited Germany during the Indian struggle for independence at the time of the Second World, the Chief Minister said, "You have an association with us through the great figure of independence, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose... We have started connecting neighboring countries through roads. We are well connected through airports. If you invest in Bengal, you will help Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. If you come we will happy to help you. We need industry. Earlier we had lot of man days lost due to strikes, now man days lost is zero."
Ms Banerjee also touched upon the passion that Bengal and Germany share - Soccer. I feel proud and hounoured to be here. Munich is a beautiful place. Who doesn't know about your football? Congratulations on becoming champions of the world. Even we are crazy about football," she said.
The Opposition in Bengal however says not much is going to come out of the visit and the Chief Minister is simply on a holiday. CPI(M) State Secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra tweeted,