Stating that the freedom of expression is very important for everyone, West Bengal Chief Minister today described book fairs as the largest platform of democracy.
Banerjee, who today inaugurated the 39th International Kolkata Book Fair at the Milan Mela ground further described it as a "matter of pride" Bengalis.
"Our love of books is unparallelled. Perhaps nowhere else in the world does any book fair attract so many book lovers as it does in Kolkata.
"The book fair is a matter of pride for us. We love the book fair. It has a tinge of nostalgia associated with it. Everyone must visit the book fair at least once," Banerjee said at the inaugural ceremony of the fair.
"The book fair is a meeting place for book sellers, publishers, readers, and authors. One day Bengal will be the meeting ground for entire world. We welcome them heartily along with all the publishers, book sellers and book lovers to this annual festival of books," she further added.
On her Facebook wall, the chief minister later wrote, "My congratulations and best wishes to the Publishers and Booksellers Guild for making the Kolkata International Book Fair so hugely popular. Happy book reading to all of you."
Meanwhile, seven books penned by Banerjee were unveiled at the fair.
Chief guest of the Book Fair, British journalist and radio-television presenter Anita Anand unveiled "Best of Mamata", a collection of writings of the Chief Minister.
"I am happy to share with all my brothers and sisters that five Bengali, one Urdu, and one English book written by me have been published today. With this, the number of books authored by me goes up to 53," Banerjee wrote on Facebook later.
After a gap of 17 years, the focal theme for this year's Book Fair is Great Britain.
This year's fair will also celebrate the 450th birth anniversary of William Shakespeare besides, 100th birth anniversaries of Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas, Irish poet WB Yeats, Indian litterateur Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay and legendary film and stage actor Sambhu Mitra.
The book fair would conclude on February 8.
