The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) denied permission to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to travel to neighboring Nepal. She was invited there to participate in a convention.
It seems that the political tussle between BJP led Center and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is not going to get over anytime soon. Banerjee has been denied permission to travel to Nepal by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The West Bengal Chief Minister was invited to participate in a convention that will be held on December 10. She was invited to the convention by the Nepali Congress.
West Bengal Chief Minister was slated to visit Kathmandu on a three-day visit from December 12-12. She has been denied permission to travel to Nepal by the MEA however, the reason for the denial has not been known. The rule for Indian Nationals wanting to travel to Nepal is simple and they do not require passports or any kind of travel permits but Mamata, being a Chief Minister of a State, needs to go through a protocol and seek permission from the Center before traveling abroad.
Reacting to the denial, the Trinamool Congress State General Secretary Kunal Ghosh said “This is revengeful politics. Mamata Banerjee is the most prominent face of the Opposition in the country. But she is being denied permission to participate in the convention.” Joining the chorus, Tapas Roy, Bengal Minister said “This shows how vindictive the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has become after its defeat in the March-April assembly polls and the subsequent by-polls. They are jealous of Mamata Banerjee’s popularity.”
Countering the TMC’s charge of Vindictiveness, state BJP leader Joy Prakash Majumdar “Politics must not be brought into this. There must be some reason why the West Bengal Chief Minister has been denied permission to visit Nepal.”
This is not the first time that the Bengal Chief Minister has been denied permission by the Center to travel abroad. Earlier this year, Banerjee was denied permission to visit a peace convention titled “Peoples as Brothers, Future Earth” in Rome on October 6 and 7. Back in the year 2018, Banerjee did not get the travel permit from the BJP led central government to attend a Chicago event, organized to mark 125 years of Swami Vivekananda’s historic speech at the World Parliament of Religion.
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