Mamata asks people to forget differences and fight against

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said India's basic essence is unity in diversity and exhorted everyone to keep aside differences and fight against divisive forces to save the country.

Speaking on the occasion of the International Mother Language Day, she called upon people to remain united.

"The objective of the language day can be served in its true spirit if India remains united, if people of different religions and communities remain united as they have been for ages," Banerjee said in an apparent hint at the BJP.

The Trinamool Congress supremo often accuses the saffron party of trying to divide people along religious lines.

"Even if the battle is harder, we should not back out. We must carry on," she said.

Observing that the Bengali language is integral to the soul of every Bengali, Banerjee said she has equal respect to all other languages "as we believe in pluralism and cosmopolitanism".

Earlier in the day, she tweeted in Bengali, "Today is 21st February, an occasion being celebrated across Bengal for paying tribute to those who had sacrificed their lives for their mother tongue. My homage to all those martyrs."