Want to know Mamata's vision of future: Hillary

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Monday said she wanted to know West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's "vision of the future".


"I want to know from the chief minister of West Bengal her vision of the future... I come with a belief that India can compete with anybody, anywhere," she said at a gathering at the La Martiniere school for girls.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton waves from a car upon her arrival at the airport in Kolkata. India will walk a diplomatic tightrope as it plays host to Clinton ...

US security personnel talk as they wait for the arrival of US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton at the Kolkata airport. AP/Bikas Das

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton arrives at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata with hopes of reinvigorating a relationship seen as losing steam despite efforts to ...

India will walk a diplomatic tightrope as it plays host to Hillary Clinton at the same time as a large Iranian trade delegation visits seeking to circumvent tough US sanctions ...

US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton disembarks from a plane upon arrival in Kolkata. AP/Bikas Das

Hillary Rodham Clinton disembarks from a plane upon arrival in Kolkata. AP/Bikas Das

Urging India to reduce the oil it imports from Iran tops US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton's agenda as she starts two days of talks with Indian officials. AP/Bikas ...

Hillary Clinton gestures inside her vehicle as a secret service agent keeps watch following her arrival at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata. AFP/Dibyangshu Sarkar

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton alights from her aircraft during her arrival at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata. AFP/Dibyangshu Sarkar

Hillary Clinton (L) smiles upon her arrival at the airport in Kolkata. AFP/Shannon Stapleton

A Boeing C-32 VIP transport aircraft carrying US secretary of state Hillary Clinton taxis during arrival at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata. AFP/Dibyangshu Sarkar

The US secretary of state waves upon her arrival at the airport in Kolkata. AP/Shannon Stapleton

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, surrounded by security personnel, waves upon her arrival at the airport in Kolkata. Reuters/Rupak De Chowdhuri

Ahead of her meeting with Banerjee, the state's first woman chief minister, Clinton said: "I know how difficult it is for women to be elected anywhere. When I meet a woman who has broken through those barriers, we share a common bond of having gone through the fire of electoral politics."

On her being thought of as formidable, Clinton said: "I don't think of myself as that but  others do...it can be an advantage sometimes or a disadvantage."

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