Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee with ArcelorMittal CEO L.N. Mittal, St. Xavier’s College principal Father Felix Raj and state education minister Partha Chatterjee (left) at the inauguration of a new campus of the college in Kolkata on Friday. (Photo: Asian age)

Kolkata: Minority institutions, like those run by Christians and the Ramkrishna Mission play an important role in providing quality education and culture in the state and they do not preach riots, said chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday at a programme.

“Education and culture are not for ‘danga’ (clashes). People do not die due to scarcity of food. But death comes when there is no culture," Ms Banerjee said at the inauguration of Lakshmi and Usha Mittal Foundation Building (Academic Block) at the Rajarhat campus of St Xavier’s University, marking the first academic session (2017-18) of the varsity.

Praising St Xavier's for offering world-class education, the chief minister said, “I feel people are known by their quality of education. Education makes one a real human being. Minority institutions have a very vital and important role.” Expressing her confidence that St Xavier’s university would be able to compete with institutes like Oxford and Harvard within three to four years, she said, “I believe this university would prove itself to be number one in the future. We are ready to help Xavier's more than what it can expect. The government has given 17 acres land to St. Xavier's university.”