In the midst of several conflicts with the West Bengal government, including over the ongoing panchayat polls, Governor C V Ananda Bose has sparked off a new one. For the first time on Tuesday, the West Bengal Raj Bhavan celebrated the state’s ‘Foundation Day’, a demand raised by the BJP a year ago, and opposed by the ruling Trinamool Congress.
June 20 marks the day in 1947 that, ahead of Independence, the Bengal Assembly saw two separate meetings of legislators. One set voted to stay in India; the other to go with Pakistan.
The TMC argues that June 20 is actually a day of much sorrow and bloodshed for the people of the state as it marks the division of Bengal into West Bengal and East Pakistan (later, Bangladesh) – and should not be marked as Bengal Foundation Day.
Telangana recently saw a controversy along similar lines, with the BJP-led Central government celebrating September 17, 2022, as ‘Hyderabad State Liberation Day’. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi government celebrates the day – when in 1948, Hyderabad merged with India – as Telangana Unity Day.
Apart from the two June 20, 1947, resolutions that decided the division of Bengal, a referendum was held in Assam’s Sylhet, which had a large Bengali-speaking population. Sylhet voted to go with Bangladesh. In the post-Partition violence that followed, nearly 2.5 million people were displaced, properties worth crores of rupees burnt down, and hundreds killed.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote a letter to the Governor on Monday, questioning the Raj Bhavan’s decision to hold a Bengal Foundation Day “unilaterally”, calling this unconstitutional. She described June 20 as a “painful” episode in the state’s history, and said it would “rekindle bitter memories of crores of people… and re-incite undesirable forces”.
Mamata also said that West Bengal was carved out of a “historical necessity”. “The state was not founded on any particular day, least of all on June 20. Contrarily, the state was formed through the infamous Radcliffe Award, which was given legitimacy by the departing colonial / imperial government… Since Independence, we in West Bengal have never commemorated or celebrated any day as the Foundation Day of West Bengal. Rather, we have seen the Partition as a result of the unleashing of communal forces that could not be resisted at that point of time,” she wrote.
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In his speech marking the event Tuesday, the Governor talked of Bengal’s “immense” potential, “historical and modern landmarks”, and contributions such as “India’s National Song and National Anthem”. Bose then talked about the streak of violence and cases of corruption in the state. “Let us today on the occasion of the Celebration of Statehood Day of Bengal renew our pledge to stand shoulder to shoulder and rise as one body to uphold the spirit of Bengal,” he said.
Besides, the Raj Bhavan issued a statement on the celebration of the day, saying: “In view of some apparent disinformation doing the rounds, the factual position about commemoration of Foundation Day of West Bengal on 20 June, 2023, needs clarification. The advisory for the commemoration of Foundation Day of States was communicated by the Government of India on 11.05.2023. The advisory proposed observing the Foundation Days of various States and Union Territories by all Raj Bhavans… Till now, as per the Government of India advisory, Raj Bhavan has already observed five State Foundation Days, and celebration of West Bengal’s Foundation Day was in the sequence suggested in the Advisory.”
The Raj Bhavan said that it was when it had already begun preparations for the commemoration that the state government sent a communication late June 19 evening, with the request not to hold the function the next day. “The same day, viz on 19 June, 2023, (the) Hon’ble President of India sent her greetings to the people of West Bengal on the occasion of the celebration of Foundation Day on 20 June, 2023.”
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The letter added that it would take into consideration the Mamata government’s views, and take up the matter with “competent authorities for appropriate action”.
Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari said there was nothing wrong in celebrating June 20. “We already celebrate this day. We are proud that on this day we merged with India and rejected Pakistan… The late leaders of the Left such as Jyoti Basu and Ratanlal Brahman supported this. But Mamata Banerjee wants all the credit to go to her. She will never celebrate this (day). I want to thank the Governor for it,” the BJP leader said.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh accused the Governor of “destroying Bengali traditions” and “insulting the history and people of Bengal”.
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty also saw the development as “distortion of history” and blamed “the BJP’s politics”. “Rabindranath Tagore and other (Bengali) intellectuals were proud of having thwarted Lord Curzon’s plot to partition Bengal (in 1905). (Bharatiya Jan Sangh leader) Syama Prasad Mookerjee and others were proud of the achievement of dividing Bengal in the disaster of Partition. The misfortune of Bengal!”
Congress leader Soumya Aich Roy called the row “nothing but conspiracy of the BJP and TMC to divert focus from the violence being seen during the ongoing panchayat elections”.
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