Do not play with Bengal's pride: Mamata tells Oppn

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the West Bengal government's 'Biswa Bangla' brand was the state's pride and claimed a "political vendetta" was behind the controversy surrounding it.

Speaking in the Assembly, she said the people of West Bengal would not forgive those insulting the state government promoted brand for handicrafts and other products.

Slamming the opposition, the West Bengal chief minister said, "Do they have any idea about 'Biswa Bangla'? It's not a crime that I created this brand. 'Biswa Bangla' is my dream, our dream".

"You cannot sell dreams. There is no question of taking money," she said.

Banerjee said she had created the logo for the brand.

"I cannot think that I will create a logo and take money for it. It's my creativity; some may like it or may not like it. I am ready to face any criticism," she said.

"I had secured the future of the logo. The West Bengal government can use the logo, and if someday it does not want to use it, the logo will come back to me," she said.

Stating that she had created the logo while travelling in a car and coined the name 'Biswa Bangla', Banerjee said she had given it to the government of West Bengal without taking any royalty under an agreement that it could not be sold to anybody.

Three journalists including Debashish Bhattacharya of a Bengali daily and Biswa Majumdar of a news channel were also in the same car when she coined the logo, the chief minister said.

Stating that the West Bengal State Export Promotion Society (WBSEPS) on behalf of the Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprise and Textile department had taken the trademark for the logo, the Chief Minister said: "WBSEPS had initiated the process for registration of the Biswa Bangla logo in March 2014. Biswa Bangla was launched on September 16, 2013, in an event called Synergy MSME in Kolkata and the first showroom of Biswa Bangla opened at Kolkata Airport on February 25, 2014."

She further told the Assembly that " The WBSEPS application for registration of Biswa Bangla logo was accepted by the registrar of trademarks in the government of India in June 2014. Since 19 June 2014, and till date the official website of the Comptroller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks shows the Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprise and Textile department as proprietor of this logo."

The chief minister said she had received accolades from Bangladesh regarding the 'Biswa Bangla' brand and an invitation from Dhaka to be a part of an international literary festival in January for an exchange of ideas.