The Oxford Union invites Mamata at their global debate next year

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has received an invitation to speak at The Oxford Union Debate 2021, the first Indian woman leader, also an administrative head to have received it since its inception in 1823 in the United Kingdom.

Regarded as one of the most prestigious and prominent student societies in the world, The Oxford Union has witnessed speakers like Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, Albert Einstein and Michael Jackson.

Mamata Banerjee herself had started her political career as a student leader. Since its inception in 1823, Banerjee is the third woman political leader after British Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May to speak at the debate.

Invitation from the president of the society L Vadlamani was received by the Chief Minister on Wednesday. A source said Banerjee has expressed her happiness over the same, stating it to be an honour for Bengal.

As a part of the celebration of the society's bicentenary year, a series of endowment lectures will be hosted next year. Banerjee has been requested to inform them the day she would like to address as per her convenience in between January 9 and March 15 in 2021. The final call on whether she would visit there to address The Oxford Union Debate or it would take place on a virtual platform due to COVID-19 is yet to be decided. Society has left it to her to take a call. Her speech would also be followed by an interaction with some selected youths from across the globe.

Prior to this, the Chief Minister had received an invitation from The Oxford Union in 2017. She had also received an invitation from Cambridge University in 2010 when she was Minister of Railways.

Banerjee has taken Bengal to a new height in the global platform with the success of Kanyashree Scheme that won the first prize in the United Nations (UN) Public Service Award for the Asia Pacific at The Hague in 2017. Besides this, many other projects and social schemes including Sabuj Sathi, Khadya Sathi and Jai Bangla were highly appreciated globally.