Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 23: With the West Bengal state Assembly elections round the corner, the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on Saturday was tuned into a political war between the BJP government at the centre and the Trinamool Congress government in the state, both also the main contenders in the state Assembly elections.
Ignoring the Covid pandemic restrictions, the prime minister Narendra Modi arrived in Kolkata to physically participate in various programmes planned by the centre to celebrate the “Parakram Divas,” the name the centre has given to Netaji’s birth anniversary day, as against “Desh Nayak Divas” given by the TMC to the birthday of the icon who formed the first Indian National Army “Azad Hind Fauj” to fight the liberation movement against the then British rulers.
It provided an opportunity to the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to taunt the BJP. “We do not celebrate Netaji’s birth anniversary day only in the election year,” she said drawing people’s attention that the BJP all these years never bothered to celebrate the day and woken up to the occasion this year only because the Assembly elections are round the corner and saffron party has taken a serious plunge to wrest control of the eastern state.
“We also do not understand what is ‘Parakram Divas.’ The people in Bengal know that Netaji was a “National Hero” and therefore we celebrate the day as “Desh Nayak Divas,” she said. The chief minister renewed West Bengal’s plea to declare January 23 as a national holiday but told the people in the same breath that once the elections were over the Modi government as usual would forget Netaji and his birth anniversary. She pointed out that the “Desh Nayak” on Subhash Chandra Bose was bestowed by none other than Rabindranath Tagore and was the most appropriate title for Netaji.
Banerjee also led a seven-kilometre long “padyatra” from one Netaji statue at Shyambazar Crossing to another statue at Red Road and garlanded both the statues to pay her tribute. A large number of TMC workers and several senior officers of the West Bengal government participated in the “padyatra.”
While Ms. Banerjee visited Netaji’s ancestral house on Elgin road in the morning, Modi visited the house and went round Netaji Research Bureau located in the building. Both the dignitaries were received by Netaji’s grandnephew and Harvard University historian Sugata Bose.
Before Modi could steal the show, Banerjee announced on the social media that the West Bengal government would construct a statue at Rajarhat in Kolkata city in memory of the Azad Hind Fauj, and a University to be named after Netaji, The University to be funded entirely by the state government would have tie-ups with foreign universities, she said.
Before arriving in Kolkata, Modi tweeted, “I am honored to be in your midst, that too on the auspicious day of #ParakramDivas. During the programmes in Kolkata, we will pay tribute to the brave Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.”
Modi used the occasion to drum-beat his government’s achievements in exporting Covid vaccines to some friendly countries. Addressing a gathering at Kolkata’s Victoria Memorial on the occasion, Modi said Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose would have been proud of India’s self-reliance and pleased to see it exporting coronavirus vaccine to other nations. He also said, “A self-reliant West Bengal will lead to a self-reliant India,” hinting that only the BJP could make the state self-reliant.
The West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and Mamata Banerjee were also present on the occasion but the chief minister refused to speak at the meeting. She declined to speak after “Jai Shri Ram” slogans were raised in the presence of the Prime Minister. .
Ms. Banerjee had not started her speech when the slogan was raised by a section of the crowd at the Victoria Memorial event. “Such insult” is unacceptable,” she said.
“This is not a party programme. This is an event of the government. All political parties and people are part of this event. The government should have some dignity. Don’t insult me after calling me here. I refuse to speak at this event in protest. Jai Hind, Jai Bangla,” Banerjee said as she wrapped up.
Besides presiding over the function at the Victoria Memorial, Modi also inaugurated a permanent exhibition and a show on Netaji, and released a commemorative coin and postage stamp on the occasion. A cultural programme “Amra Nuton Jouboneri Doot”, based on the theme of Netaji, was also organized.
Prior to the inauguration, the prime minister visited the National Library, Kolkata, where an international conference “Revisiting the legacy of Netaji Subhas in the 21st century” and an artists’ camp were organized and interacted with the artistes and other participants at the camp.
Both the TMC and the BJP accused each other of using Netaji’s name as the election prop, the Congress held the same charge against both the parties stating that both the TMC and the BJP were trying to appropriate his name while he was a member of the Congress party. The war of words is sure to go on till at least the elections are over.