UK's Bengal heritage foundation brainstorms at Mamata’s biz meet

KOLKATA: London-based Bengal Heritage Foundation (BHF), set up by the diaspora to promote Bengal’s cultural heritage across the world, was invited by the Mamata Banerjee government to participate in the Bengal Global Business Summit on Friday.


At the mega event to woo investors in Bengal, state home secretary Atri Bhattacharya, who is also the state’s tourism secretary, said, it was time to take the efforts of the diaspora forward. Sourav Niyogi, president, who represented BHF at the BGBS at the Biswa Bangla Convention Centre in Kolkata’s New Town, elaborated how, over the past one year, the Bengali diaspora in the UK has been collaborating to strengthen Bengal tourism, which, in turn, creates massive opportunities for jobs and revenue generation.

The session began with Niyogi presenting indigenous stuff made by London-based Bengalis to the home secretary and Debanjan Chakrabarti director, east and north-east India, British Council. The takeaways included a book, “Asma’s Indian Kitchen” by chef Asma Khan of London’s Darjeeling Express, hand-printed kurtas (Punjabis, as they are called in Bengali) by another Londoner, Mahua Bej and a Bengali-English calendar published BHF and the London Sharad Utsav (LSU) that first set the ball (of promoting things Bengal through the BHF) rolling.

The British Council director talked about “creating festival circuits in Bengal” and “investing in language skills to attract foreign tourists.” The home and tourism secretary said, Bengal, one of the most popular tourism destinations in India, plays host to travelers not just on behalf of itself but the entire north-east and Bangladesh.

Indeed. With introduction of new tourism policies, new tourism packages like shakti trail, tea cheers, wild wonders, exotic sundarban, new sharadotsav, special events like the red road carnival, the government has tapped the state’s tremendous tourism potential.

Niyogi echoed, on how package-tourism plays a significant role for international tourists. “International tourism is booming – people from across the globe are travelling more than ever before,” he told TOI on the sidelines of the session at BGBS.

“The West Bengal government and British Council, last year, inked the MoU to promote the state’s biggest festival - the Durga Puja in London. At a diaspora discussion in the Grand Royale Hotel in London last year, Atri Bhattacharya, Lakshmi Ratan Shukla, minister of state for sports and youth services and Debanjan Chakrabarti, had emphasized the importance of hardselling Bengal tourism to the rest of the world,” said Niyogi, adding, “The event also marked the signing of the three-year partnership agreement between British Council and London Sharad Utsav (LSU) with a vision to work together in building the bridge between Bengal and Britain.”

In fact, BHF and LSU are jointly working with British Council to create a platform for Bengal tourism in the UK, said Niyogi.