Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said she will not be attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony as it is “an august occasion to celebrate democracy, not one that should be devalued by any political party”.
Banerjee said she had planned to accept the “ceremonial invitation” but following gross misrepresentation of facts about 54 deaths in poll violence, she decided to skip the oath-taking ceremony to be held on Thursday.
About the violence, she stated in her tweet that there has been “no political murders in Bengal”. There might have been deaths due to personal enmity, family quarrel and other disputes, she said. “But nothing related to politics. There is no such recors with us,” she added.
The oath-taking ceremony is an august occasion to celebrate democracy, not one that should be devalued by any political party pic.twitter.com/Mznq0xN11Q
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) May 29, 2019
She said such turn of events has “compelled” her not to attend the ceremony.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo had earlier said she would attend for his second term on May 30 as “constitutional courtesy” after she received the invitation on Tuesday.
The chief minister, according to news agency ANI, said, “We will attend the programme. There are certain ceremonial programmes where attending amounts to constitutional courtesy,” Mamata Banerjee said at the state secretariat.
“But there is only one day in between… We will try to attend,” the chief minister said.
With agency inputs