Food and supplies minister Jyotipriyo Mullick lays a wreathe at the foot of B.C. Roy’s statue on July 1. Municipal chief Krishna Chakraborty is at the centre in front. (Saradindu Chaudhury)

At the garlanding of the statue of Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy on the occasion of his birth and death anniversary on July 1, civic chief Krishna Chakraborty spoke of an aspect of the former chief minister that politicians seldom bring up.

“He was not only an eminent doctor but also a social worker and an economist. In every sphere he reached the pinnacle. Then at the age of 64, he became the chief minister of Bengal. Due to Dr Roy, people of Bengal have got Haringhata dairy milk project and three planned townships. We are proud that we are residents of one such township. But the most important point that I would like to raise is that he had very cordial relations with the Opposition. Jyoti Basu was the leader of the Opposition and they had heated debates in the Assembly. But when they meet outside the building, they were the best of friends. There was no enmity and no personal rivalry between them. We have so much to learn from the great man,” said Chakraborty.

What rendered the tribute ironic was the presence of party colleague and state food and supplies minister Jyotipriyo Mullick, who had infamously asked party workers not to interact with the Opposition. “Don’t sit beside CPM workers to have food at social events. Don’t attend a gathering at a CPM leader’s house. Don’t even have tea with them at the local tea stall,” Mullick had thundered two years ago at a meeting. He had left the spot by the time Chakraborty started talking of Roy’s bonhomie with political rivals.

Also present were councillors Swati Banerjee, Rebecca Sultana, Snigdha Majumdar, Nilanjana Manna, Chameli Naskar, Ranjan Sen, chairman in council members Ashesh Mukherjee and Anupam Dutta and MLA Sujit Bose other than sub-divisional officer Sanjay Das.

The only Opposition member present, Radhanath Chand, left immediately after garlanding the statue without taking the dais.

A week later, on July 8, which marked the birth centenary of Roy’s friend and successor in the chief minister’s office, Basu, there was no one from the ruling party to garland Basu’s portrait alongside Left Front (LF) members on a lane beside Indira Bhavan where he spent his last years. According to LF sources, none had been invited. Possibly the present government’s refusal to turn Indira Bhavan into a museum dedicated to Basu’s memory or the cancellation of the renaming of New Town as Jyoti Basu Nagar still rankles.

At the July 1 programme, Mullick leapfrogged over Basu’s regime to draw a direct connection between the illustrious former chief minister and his present-day counterpart. “The dream of Dr Roy is being carried forward by chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Whatever development is happening in Bengal is due to her,” he said.

Sujit Bose, the local legislator, also toed the same line. “Dr Roy is instrumental for whatever industrial progress Bengal has made. In his 14-year tenure as chief minister, he developed Bengal. There is more room for development and our government, under chief minister Mamata Banerjee, is working to achieve that,” said Bose.

Members of Bidhannagar Municipality Recreation Club presented copies of Ekti Pereker Kahini, a biography of Dr Roy by former Desh editor Sagarmoy Ghosh, to the guests present at the programme.