Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said an attempt to “erase the history of Bengal and the country” is afoot and declared that “no power” will be allowed to do so, weighing in on the hot-button topic on the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
Mamata linked the Amar Jawan Jyoti controversy, the Narendra Modi government’s decision to install a statue of Netaji near India Gate and the rejection of Bengal’s tableau for the Republic Day parade as pieces of the history-erasing jigsaw.
Addressing an event organised by the state government to observe Bose’s 125th birth anniversary, the chief minister announced that the rejected tableau, themed on Netaji, would roll down Red Road in Calcutta on January 26 as part of the Republic Day celebrations in the state.
Aware that her address was being televised live by several national channels, she switched to Hindi and tossed a question whose target was unmistakeable: “Who should be a leader? Which leader is accepted by people?”
Mamata then proceeded to answer the question.
“A leader must lead all, a leader should be someone who respects everyone, without looking at political colour or religion…. Remember, Netaji’s most trusted lieutenant in the INA was Shah Nawaz (Khan), a Muslim,” Mamata said.
“The attempt to erase the history of Bengal and the country is on. Had Bengal not been there, India’s independence would not have been achieved and I take pride in that. I can tell you that there is no power that can erase the history of our country,” the chief minister said.
“Netaji can’t be shown respect with a statue after putting out the flames of the Amar Jawan Jyoti,” Mamata added in her 35-minute address, during which she accused the Modi government of playing politics with the religion and race of martyrs who laid down their lives for the country.
“They rejected the tableau of our state that we had planned with Netaji as its theme. We were not even told the reason behind the rejection.... But let me tell you, the tableau will roll down Red Road on January 26,” Mamata said.
After the state was informed about the rejection of its tableau, the chief minister had written to Prime Minister Modi urging him to reconsider the decision. On Sunday, Mamata referred to the rejection repeatedly in her address.
Mamata expanded the scope of her attack, questioning the BJP’s philosophy of using statues as the building blocks of the party’s politics of Hindu nationalism.
“They are installing the Netaji statue in Delhi after we pressured them.... I want to know, didn’t this come to your mind all these years?” she said.
“And remember, one statue can’t change anything. You have built statues by spending crores, but what happened...? If you really respect Netaji or Gandhiji…. (she mentioned several prominent freedom fighters) try to understand their teachings,” Mamata added.
She asked why the Modi government had failed to resolve the mystery surrounding Netaji’s disappearance.
“We still don’t know what happened to Netaji. It’s still a mystery. This government had stated that it would declassify files. We (the state) have digitised and declassified files on Netaji,” she said.
Mamata used the occasion to criticise the Centre’s plan to amend the rules relating to the posting of IAS and IPS officers on central deputation.
“The central government is now trying to pull any senior official from the state to Delhi according to its wish. Is there no law in the country? These moves are aimed at destroying the federal structure. I am promising today in front of Netaji’s statue that I will strengthen the federal structure at any cost,” she said.
In the morning, Mamata had tweeted a demand to have January 23 — Netaji’s birthday – declared a national holiday.
