West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee again lashed out at a section of the media here on Wednesday for allegedly distorting her recent comments and suggested that it “needs counselling.”
“The way the media is distorting [my remarks], I feel scared to speak,” she said, while addressing a gathering of students and teachers at an event to mark Teachers’ Day.
Ms. Banerjee was referring to the comments she made on Tuesday on the outbreak of dengue in the city and its adjoining areas, which according to her were distorted by certain news channels. “I spoke about dengue. I said hundreds of different things and also that people should eat properly. And if they are dieting they should eat supplementary food … A [news] channel in Delhi started saying that I had said that people who are on diet are infected by dengue,” she said.
“The government has a way for taking decisions but those who are reporting are doing so ‘without knowing the facts’,” she said, adding that a section of the media had also misrepresented her government’s decision to ask the State board to organise Class IX examinations.
“I asked Bratya Basu [State School Education Minister] whether the department has decided to take a mini-board examination in Class IX. He said no and added that there was only a proposal to prepare question papers for Class IX,” she said.
“Inhuman”
Ms. Banerjee also vented her ire on civil rights groups adding such organisations are “inhuman” and merely prefixed ‘human rights’ in front of their names. “There are some who want to preach human rights to me …. I have devoted my entire life to ensuring human rights,” she said.
