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1 A ladder is placed near Netaji’s portrait and a policeman clambers up 2 The portrait is taken off the wall 3 Time for dusting 4 Home secretary Ardhendu Sen garlands the portrait 5 Chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti pays his tributes Pictures by Pradip Sanyal

Calcutta, Jan. 23: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had his revenge on the communists today.

The CPM-led Bengal government literally quaked in its boots today when it was discovered by an Opposition politician that Netaji’s portrait at Writers’ Buildings had not been garlanded on his birthday.

The hawk-eyed discovery and the potential for uproar sent so chilling a shiver down the government’s spine that the unthinkable unfolded: Writers’ buzzed with activity on a holiday.

In the scramble that followed to garland the portrait, the Bengal government lived up to its now-forgotten and rarely enforced “do-it-now” motto. A ladder was fetched, currency notes were fished out by the home secretary, a police officer was despatched on a mission to New Market to buy flowers, incense sticks were lit and then the chief secretary and the home secretary garlanded the portrait.

Mission accomplished. But the last garland had not been hung yet.

The Trinamul Congress, never known to miss such dramatic moments, entered the picture. Opposition leader Partha Chatterjee rushed in soon after, garlanded the portrait, declared that “an unpardonable offence” had been committed when the picture was ignored earlier and held it up as another instance of “absence of governance” in Bengal.

The issue was accorded such gravity that chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee felt compelled to term the initial absence of the garland “a lapse” and issue a clarification.

“The main function for celebrating the birthday of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is held in front of the statue of Netaji (on Red Road). Like previous years, this year, too, Netaji’s birthday had been observed there in a befitting manner. But at Writers’, no garland had been offered to Netaji’s picture. That was a lapse on the part of the administration. But as soon as the matter came to the attention of the government, the chief secretary and home secretary offered garlands to Netaji’s picture. But what I want to remind is that there was not a single picture of Netaji at Writers’ during the entire Congress rule. That amounts to disowning Netaji politically.’’

Communists had once called Netaji a “quisling” for his support to the Axis Forces but had changed their stand later.

Bhattacharjee referred to the shift at a meeting earlier in the day. “Some people are again raising an old issue. Almost a decade back Jyoti Basu had admitted that the communists were wrong in evaluating Netaji. We were wrong in raising questions about Netaji’s patriotism.”

The rush to garland the picture came in the same week the state government agreed to hold a state funeral for Basu.

Netaji’s photograph at the secretariat had been personally chosen by the chief minister and put on a mount in the protected area of Writers’.

Around 2.15pm, state Congress working president Subrata Mukherjee arrived at Writers’ to attend a meeting on the ongoing jute strike. While walking down the corridor Mukherjee saw Netaji’s picture.

He paused and wondered aloud: “Is the government working or not? They didn’t bother to offer flowers to Netaji at Writers’? If no flowers are placed, I will personally bring them and pay my tribute.”

Within minutes, word spread that there could be a Congress or Trinamul Congress agitation over the issue. Police rushed to the VVIP entrance to take guard while some officers went to the home secretary’s chamber to alert him, following which the chain of events was activated.

In the highest traditions of bureaucracy, the next most important question: was there a precedent in garlanding the portrait?

Hear the answer from the director of information, Niloy Ghosh: “Netaji’s picture was chosen by the chief minister and placed at Writers’ in January 2007. He had paid floral tributes on January 23, 2007. After that, Netaji’s picture hasn’t been garlanded in 2008 or in 2009…. In fact, pictures of Rabindranath Tagore and C.R. Das in front of the chief minister’s chamber are also not garlanded.’’