Mamata pitches Bengal to investors in Spain; Sourav Ganguly to build his third steel plant in state

Away from politics back home, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Friday, addressed a business gathering in Madrid, and invited Spanish investors to the state's upcoming business summit.

A Trinamool release summed up her remarks as an introduction of the “Bengal Model” to Spain.

Banerjee said that once Bengal had the first place in manufacturing. Avoiding further deliberations on the reason for the state’s dip in the sector, Banerjee told the audience that India is a democracy, and that is our strength. “We have so many states being run by different political parties. Unity in diversity is our origin. We believe in humanism, secularism, women's empowerment, and love the younger generation,” she said.

Highlighting Bengal’s passion for football, the chief minister said that La Liga, the Spanish league, has agreed to set up a football academy in the state.

She added that Covid-19 had disrupted the economy, and many lives were lost during the phase.

“Invest, listen, learn more, and give us the opportunity to extend hospitality,” she said, while highlighting the Bengal Global Business Summit, scheduled to take place between November 21-23, this year.

The International Book Fair, and the International Film Festival, two major attractions of the state, also figured in her talk.

Banerjee talked of the skill (trained youth), natural resources, tourism potential, and infrastructure – all having potential from the point of view of doing business. Banerjee mentioned the state's social security schemes, the great festivals, including Durga Puja, and talented Nobel laureates the state has offered.

“I am also very happy that the most popular club, La Liga, signed an MoU to set up an academy in West Bengal. Even Zara asked for 100 acres of land to set up their manufacturing units as we have the textile and uninterrupted power supply,” a party release quoted her as saying.

A day earlier, Banerjee had walked in the streets of Madrid. In a video clip, shared by Trinamool sources, she was seen playing Hum Honge Kaamyaam on an accordion, “surprising onlookers in Madrid, Spain as she traversed across the city”.

BJP Bengal leader Suvendu Adhikari, however, wrote a long critical post on X (earlier, Twitter), titled, “Glimes of Spanish vacation”, where he wondered how many MoUs will actually get materialised in the end.

Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly says he’s building his third steel plant in Bengal

“We have just started building our third steel plant in the state of west bengal… A lot of us believe that I only played the sport, but we started a small steel plant in 2007… And in the next five to six months we will start building our new steel plant in Medinipur,” Ganguly, who shared the dais with the CM on Friday, said.

Ganguly, while highlighting the ease of doing business in the state, said that the entire process (official work) just took four or five months to complete. “We will build a state of the art facility within a year’s time in the district of Medinipur,” he added.