West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurates the 49th Kolkata International Book Fair in Kolkata on Thursday, January 22, 2026. | Photo credit: PTI
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday (22 January 2026) that she had already written 26 poems since the start of 2026 about the “harassment” caused by the Special Intensive Review (SIR), the process she said the Election Commission used to decide the outcome of elections in India.
“Logistical irregularities in SIR are witnessed only in West Bengal. Every day people have to stand in queues for four to five hours. They face problems because of things like their surnames being spelled Banerjee as well as Bandopadhyay, Mukherjee as well as Mukhopadhyay. In one case, the officials could be surprised that the same parents were following five people.” The Hamare Do (Two Children) Policy!” Ms. Banerjee said at the launch of the Kolkata International Book Fair, which will continue till February 3 with nearly 1,100 stalls and participation from 20 countries besides Bangladesh.
“How can we get our parents’ birth certificates? Many of us don’t even know when exactly our parents were born. Back then, most people were ‘home delivery’ cases. Even (former prime minister) Atal Behari Vajpayee himself once told me that he didn’t have a birthday on December 25. There are many people among us who don’t know their actual date of birth. But it’s people like Sen and Jomartya who are worrying. Goswami,” she said.
Ms. Banerjee also announced the establishment of a Boi Tirtha (pilgrimage of books) at the same time next year when the Calcutta Book Fair completes 50 years and announced a grant of Rs. 10 crores for this purpose. “I also write, though I am a simple person, a minor person. I mostly write when I travel. I usually write at length because that’s when the thoughts flow. I have written 153 books till date and nine more will be published this year. Licensing is my only source of income. I have never accepted a rupee from the government,” the chief minister said.
Argentina is the main theme of the fair this year, and its ambassador to India, Mariano Agustin Caucino, who was present at the event, said that Argentina and Calcutta, despite being 17,000 km apart, have several elements in common, including football, Tagore (who met Victoria Ocampo in Buenos Aires) and a love of literature.
“This historic milestone will strengthen cultural diplomacy and literary cooperation with India, promote literature in the Spanish language, and promote connections between writers, publishers and readers of the two countries,” the ambassador said.
As the book fair, organized by the Publishers & Booksellers Guild, is the city’s biggest event after Durga Puja and saw 27 million visitors last year, the excitement — among readers and publishers alike — is palpable. “This time, the fair looks less like a spectacle and more like a silent exchange of ideas. Readers seem to be in no rush. They stop, spend time with the book, listen to it before making a decision. In those unhurried moments, I feel a renewed faith in reading, as something deeply personal, almost sacred,” said Sayani Dutta Doshoration hours, managing partner of Publications, Publications.
“Today I will buy Ruskin Bond’s new book The Ghosts of Indian Small Towns, Ghazala Wahab’s The Hindi Heartland and a collection of interviews with writer Ashish Lahiri called Encounter. Of course I will look at other books as well,” said Amartya Bandopadhyay, a chemistry teacher at Diamond Harbor School.
(Hind is present at the Calcutta International Book Fair at Stand No. E-96).
Published – 23 Jan 2026 07:53 IST
