‘State to give Rs 7 cr annually to Xaviers to clear salaries’

Without naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee called him “Gabbar Singh” and drew a parallel between them. Gabbar Singh was an oppressive dacoit, a villain in Hindi movie Sholay.

She visited St. Xavier’s University on Friday evening and spent some time with the fathers.

Banerjee announced that the state government would give Rs 7 crore annually to St Xavier’s University to clear salaries. The state government will also provide 4 acres of land in Kalyanpur in Asansol to set up a college. It may be recalled that the state government recently upgraded St Xavier’s College into a University.

Banerjee said: “There are times when we do something which put the entire nation into trouble. In case we make similar mistakes people will not forgive us. The credential of a treacherous person is lost and when the credential is lost then nothing remains of the person,” she said.

She said that she had never seen such fear in the country. Amidst Christmas people are scared as CBI or I-T or ED can conduct raids at any moment. “Such fear I have never seen and such a person I have never seen either. If a person has saved Rs 50,000 he is scared as he may be called a thief.”

On Friday she also inaugurated Biswa Bangla Lok Sanskriti Utsav at Rabindra Sadan.

The theme of the festival is “Shikarer tane, matir gane.” The Chief Minister said there are 80,000 folk artists in Bengal, some of whom are exceptionally talented. “When I go to the districts, some of them perform in the meetings and so I thought that they should come to the city to perform so that many people can listen to them.”

It may be mentioned that the state government has identified folk artists and is giving monthly stipend to them. They are also given programmes so that they can support their family. A folk academy is coming up in the state where research work will be carried out on folk culture.