Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is known for her gaffes, but this one takes the cake.
On November 14, Pandit Nehru's birthday, Banerjee led her party MLAs to the state assembly lobby, paid tributes to Jawaharlal Nehru on his 125th birth anniversary, and then said: "Nehru was the first Prime Minister of India and a learned man. He was a soldier of India's independence. He wrote a book called 'Freedom At Midnight' and I learnt a lot about India after reading it."
Her legislators may have been none the wiser after their party supremo's revelation. However, the fact remains that Nehru had indeed written 'Discovery of India' and 'Glimpses of World History'.
Mamata Banerjee may have jumbled up her knowledge about Nehru's books, but, Dominique Lapierre (alive) and Larry Collins (died in 2005), who slogged to write Freedom At Midnight, may surely be smiling wherever they may be, in an apartment or inside a grave.
More of Mamata Banerjee quotes on that day:
When the CPI(M) members staged a walkout from the assembly on Nov 14 even before Mamata Banerjee spoke, she remarked: "Every time I come to the Assembly, they walk out on one pretext or the other. They don't have the courage to face me. They have become a television channel party. They cannot do any constructive work and don't even want to."
When an SUCI member raised the issue of unaffiliated madarsas in the state, this is what the Chief Minister had to offer: "The matter is under investigation. But we feel that educational institutes are for educational purposes and we do not agree with what the 'danga gurus' are saying to suit their political purpose."
