West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has not been allowed to visit Nepal by the Indian central government. He had not previously been allowed to visit Italy or China.
Mamata Banerjee was invited to attend the 24th National Conference of the Nepali Congress. Mamata was supposed to go to Kathmandu on Friday to join it. Mamata was invited by Sher Bahadur Deoba, President of the Nepal Congress and former Prime Minister of Nepal. The conference was inaugurated on 10 December.
After receiving the invitation, Mamata applied to the central government for permission to visit Nepal. His visit to Nepal was canceled due to lack of permission. Indian chief ministers have to get permission from the central government to travel abroad.
Mamata was also invited to a peace conference in Rome, Italy, last October. Earlier, in June 2016, he was invited to attend an event of the Chinese Communist Party. But the central government led by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not allow Mamata to go on those two visits.
Regarding Mamata’s visit, the foreign ministry questioned how a regional political party could directly invite a state chief minister.
However, India’s ruling party BJP, the main opposition Congress, CPM and CPI were invited. Former BJP ministers Harshvardhan and Harish Dwivedi have visited Nepal to attend the conference. However, no one from CPM and CPI attended the conference.
