Kolkata, March 8 West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday asserted that there was no violation of protocol at President Draupadi Murmu's event in Siliguri and said that the responsibility for any mismanagement at the event lay with its private organizers and the Airports Authority of India, who provided the venue.
Speaking from a central Kolkata platform on a day when Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized the TMC government for "insulting" a woman tribal leader and the President of the country, Banerjee displayed a large photograph of Prime Minister Modi seated next to veteran BJP leader LK Advani, while the President stood beside them.
"The picture shows that the Prime Minister is seated while the President is standing. We never do that. It is the BJP that has the culture of disrespecting the President, not us," she claimed, while presenting the photograph as "evidence".
"We have full respect for the President's office and the Constitution of India, which we consider our mother; do not blame us," Banerjee said.
President Draupadi Murmu had expressed her disappointment at not finding either the chief minister or any of her cabinet ministers to receive her at Bagdogra Airport on Saturday, where she arrived to attend an international tribal conference.
Murmu had also expressed her displeasure at the change of venue for her program near Siliguri.
Maintaining that the state government was not even aware of the details of the President's program and that the private organizers had not consulted them, Banerjee said that the responsibility for the alleged garbage, green room malfunction, and lack of women's toilets should be borne by the event managers and the AAI, whose plot the event was held on.
"You chose the venue, not us," she said.
Banerjee said that Goutam Deb, the mayor of Siliguri, had followed protocol and was present to receive her in Bagdogra.
"I am sitting in a protest to protect people's rights. How can I leave?" she said.
"You are targeting Bengal in the run-up to the assembly elections by saying whatever you please. Why? Why? Why?" Banerjee added, without specifying who she was referring to.
