Mamata’s photo among “Famous Bengali Legends” creates outrage

March 7: A photograph of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alongside stalwarts of Bengal, including Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore, on a giant flex at the heart of the Kolkata’s information technology hub has has given rise to anger among people.

The flex bearing the title “Famous Bengali legends” near a busy crossing at Sector 5 in Salt Lake contains pictures in two rows of 13 eminent people from the 19th and 20th century from fields such as literature, the country’s freedom struggle, social and religious reform movements, science and politics. The 14th and last photo in the lower row is that of Mamata Banerjee.

Among those whose photos appear in the flex are Ramakrishna Paramhansa,  Swami Vivekananda, Chittaranjan Das, Bidhan Chandra Roy. The Chief Minister’s photograph finding its place besides such colossal figures, and that too under the caption “Famous Bengali Legends” has triggered protests on the internet.