West Bengal: Union Home Minister Amit Shah dines with BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly; see pics

Former India skipper and BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly on Friday hosted dinner for Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence in Behala in South 24 parganas.

Along with Shah, state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya also visited Ganguly’s house for dinner.

Talking to media, the BCCI chief said that he has known Shah for a long and on Friday he had invited Shah for an ‘informal’ dinner.

“I work with Shah’s son and I have known Amit Shah for several years. It is just an informal invitation. I am grateful that he had affirmed and came,” said Ganguly.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had asked Ganguly to greet Shah with ‘Mishti Doi’ and ‘Rasogolla’ to which Ganguly said that the Chief Minister is Bengali for which he had asked to greet the Union Home Minister in Bengali style.

Ahead of visiting Ganguly’s house, Shah attended a cultural programme at Victoria Memorial where Ganguly’s wife Dona Ganguly and her group danced to celebrate the intangible heritage tag of UNESCO to Durga Puja.

Thanking Dona, Shah said that Durga Puja means to celebrate ‘women power’ and also that where women are respected ‘power’ comes there.

“Dona and her troupe had portrayed all the forms of Goddess Durga. This shows the rich heritage. India believes in Unity in Diversity. I belong from Gujarat and the programme was in Bengali even then there was no difficulty in understanding the programme. Bengal had gifted both the national anthem and national song,” mentioned the Union Home Minister.