Former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, in Madrid, on September 16. (PTI)
Sourav Ganguly on criticism on his WB Steel Plant Announcement in Madrid: “I am an independent public personality. I will go wherever I want. I don’t have any political colour as such. I am not answerable to anyone.”
Amid the criticism over Sourav Ganguly’s announcement of a third steel factory in West Bengal’s Medinipur, during his Madrid tour with WB Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the former Indian skipper told News18 that while he is “not affected by it, it should stop”.
“I would just like to thank Mamata didi. We will build our third steel plant in Bengal. A lot of us believe that I am only into sports, but we started with a small steel plant in 2007 and in five-six months, we will build a new steel plant in Medinipur. Let me tell you from my experience and not just because I am travelling with the chief minister that the entire process took just four-five months. So I want to thank them all,” Ganguly had said, while making the announcement.
Sources said the plant will be built in Salboni with an investment of Rs 2,500 crore.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president Sukanta Majumdar slammed the announcement saying “industrialists from Spain should have announced a factory”, while JP national secretary Anupam Hazra wrote on Facebook, “Greg Chappell, Sorry sir for badly criticizing you without assessing the depth of your foresight. (My personal view).”
Edited excerpts:
Your announcement in Spain met with a lot of criticism…
I don’t get hurt, I am not that type of person. There is no point connecting everything to politics. I am not a political person. I am not a Member of Parliament (MP) or a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) or a councilor, nor am I interested in becoming one. I am an independent public personality. I will go wherever I want. I don’t have any political colour as such. I am not answerable to anyone.
People have been attacking you personally, with your land…
This should stop. This is not required. Everybody does business wherever they get an opportunity. It could be in Bengal, Mumbai or Chennai. This is normal…Our society has space for everyone, be it politician or sportsman (Greg)… you can’t jumble them up and make khichuri. Does this happen when it comes to other states? Actor Amitabh Bachchan’s wife is an MP with the Samajwadi Party, while he is the ambassador of Gujarat. He attends film festivals in Kolkata too.