West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee attends an event organised by the state minority development department in Kolkata yesterday.

IANS/Kolkata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee yesterday asserted her government will not ban sale of meat in the state.
“Some people want a meat ban during pujas, but I said that will not happen. West Bengal is a land of secularism and communal harmony. In the land of communal harmony, what I will eat is my right. What you will eat is your prerogative,” Banerjee said.
“We will not allow any attempts to incite riots and no one can infringe upon the right of others,” the Trinamool Congress chairperson said at an event organised by the state minority development department here.
Earlier in the month the Hindu Samhati had written to the chief minister urging her to “ban slaughtering and transportation of cows and selling/mobilisation of beef throughout the state” during four days of Durga Puja beginning on October 19.
While Maharashtra and Haryana had banned beef earlier, many other states including Gujarat and Chhattisgarh and cities like Mumbai and its suburbs had recently introduced temporary bans on the sale and possession of meat for varying number of days during “Paryushan” or the Jain community’s fasting season.
She also promised funds to madrassas for encouraging education among the minorities.
The chief minister also announced that all medical college hospitals in the state will provide free treatment. Till now only district hospitals have been providing such facilities.
Appreciating the performance of the minority community in academics and underlining the importance of madrassas in spreading education, Banerjee announced a grant of Rs2.5mn to a madrassa in Kharagpur of West Midnapore district.
“I am granting you (Kharagpur madarsa) Rs25 lakh as you have been able to spread education. Please make more doctors and engineers of the students.
“I will give such more grants to other institutes if they are also able to educate more people. This is a commitment from my side and is a standing instruction to the concerned department,” Banerjee said.
She also said the government wasa working towards making Urdu the second language in minority-dominated areas of the state.
Lambasting the erstwhile Left Front government for the burdening the state with debts, Banerjee enumerated her government’s schemes for the welfare of the minorities.