Bengal minister lands in trouble over 'mini Pakistan' remark, BJP fumes

Kolkata: Trinamool Congress leader Bobby Firhad Hakim triggered a controversy which might cost dearly to the party in the ongoing Assembly elections in West Bengal.

According to a report in Pakistani daily The Dawn, the Minister for Urban Development and Municipal Affairs in Mamata Banerjee's Cabinet was taking a Pakistani journalist for a stroll and addressed the Garden Reach area as 'mini-Pakistan'.

"Please come along and let us take you to mini-Pakistan in Kolkata," reporter Maleeha Hamid Siddiqui quoted him saying.

The reporter wrote, "Seeing me loitering around with my notebook in hand, the men in the neighbourhood want to know what TV channel I work for. When I tell them I am from Pakistan, they break into broad smiles and tell me of their relatives who live back home."

BJP demanded an explanation, even as Hakim denied having made such comment.

"How can a minister say such things? We demand an explanation from both Mr Firhad Hakim and also Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee," BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh said.

When contacted, Hakim said he never made such comment. "The Pakistani journalist came along with a journalist of a local Bengali daily. She only asked me that this place looks like Karachi of Pakistan. I did not make any comment. She spoke to me about my election campaign. I answered those questions. That's all," he said.