No one will be able to divide us, says Mamata at KIFF

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday took a pot-shot at the BJP without naming the saffron party.

"Bengal is not scared. We love India. We love Mumbai also. We love people from all religions and castes. We love our motherland. No one will be able to divide us. We are in favour of humanity," the chief minister said while delivering the keynote address at the inaugural session of the Kolkata International Film Festival (KIFF) 2023.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister lamented the absence of megastars like Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan, who had graced the inaugural session for the last few years.

"I had a word with them though, Amit Ji is not keeping well. Shah Rukh Khan is busy with the promotion of his daughter's movie," the chief minister said.

Top stars like Salman Khan, Anil Kapoor, Shatrughan Sinha, Sonakshi Sinha, director Mahesh Bhatt among others were present on Tuesday.

The Chief Minister also sought an "assurance" from Salman Khan that he would choose West Bengal as his future film shooting destination.

"In the recent Bengal Global Business Summit, we projected Bengal's film industry as a creative sector for investment. The Bengal film industry has been transformed into a creative industry in its true sense. There are immense employment opportunities in this industry," Banerjee said.

Speaking on the occasion, Salman Khan said during one of his previous visits to Kolkata, he went to Mamata Banerjee's residence, and he was amazed to know how a person of the chief minister's stature could stay in such a small house.

"I was surprised that she lives in a house which is smaller than the 'small house' of mine," he said.