Only a middle-class Indian will know why journalists accompanying Mamata Banerjee stole cutlery from London

One journalist refused to admit to the stealing, even after he was recorded on camera

By: News Desk |
January 10, 2018 3:21 pm

First things first, let’s state the obvious. We know it’s wrong to steal and there is nothing at all to justify what a group of senior journalists accompanying the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee to London did. They were caught stealing silver cutlery during an official dinner meet.

Senior Journalist Dipankar Nandi of Aajkal News and Deobash Bhattacharya of Anand Bazar Patrika we caught in CCTV camera stealing silver cutlery and putting them into their pocket. Later they were fined £50.

Senior Journalist Dipankar Nandi of Aajkal News & Deobash Bhattacharya of Anand Bajar Patrika accompanying Bengal C.M. Mamata Banerjee to London during Official Visit Caught Stealing Silver Cutlery By Hotel Staff During Dinner, Fined with £50.

New Kind Of Journalism!!…

— IIN ( उत्तय पयदेस ) (@SamarG_Uvaach) January 9, 2018

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But having said that, let us get to the moot point. How many of you have flicked that particularly fluffy towel from your hotel room?

Let’s face it. We are Indians and we like our souvenirs. Correction. We like free souvenirs. Towels from hotels, extra carry bags from shopping malls, inflight magazines from airplanes (which end up being the prime display of your coffee table). I remember as a kid, my mother would scrupulously collect plastic tumblers and cutlery from Indian Airlines flights and use them to serve snacks to guests.

These are things we do.

It’s a different thing that the Bengal journalists took thing a step further.

According to the Outlook report, when security staff told them that their act was caught on CCTV cameras, most of them kept them back on the table, embarrassed.One journalist, however, insisted he had not stolen anything. He was not aware that the CCTV cameras had caught him putting his stolen cutlery into a fellow journalist’s bag. At this point, the hotel staff threatened to report him to the police, but they let him off with the £50 fine after he finally confessed.

Phew!

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