Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said she wouldn't tolerate RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's alleged attempt to distort history after he had said India had truly attained independence only with the consecration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya last year.
"I totally... strongly condemn this. It is unimaginable that something like this could be said," the Bengal chief minister said during an interaction with journalists at state secretariat Nabanna.
Her news conference was on the Midnapore Medical College and Hospital controversy when she was asked to respond to the contentious remarks of the RSS sarsanghchalak. Mamata said it was a question about the nation's Independence, not just a political matter.
"Since Independence is about our nation and not politics, I can answer it (from the Nabanna dais). Bengal was once the capital of India and contributed most significantly to the Independence movement, followed by Punjab, and other states. India got her independence on August 15, 1947. I don't know if he said this knowingly or unknowingly. I consider it an anti-national statement.... Long live our Independence!" said Mamata.
"Can the history of Independence change at any time, can any political party change it, or any organisation? Can they do it? This doesn't happen. Our Independence and democracy are our pride.... Countless freedom fighters and ordinary citizens sacrificed their lives for the country... we cannot forget their principles or contributions," she added, naming a vast number of icons and events associated with them from the 19th and 20th centuries.
"Kaisey hum bhool jayengey? Humarey azadi ka itihas aisey humey bhoolana thik nahi hay... yeh bahut khatarnak baat hay, dangerous baat hay... kharab baat hay. Isko vapas lena chahiye (How do we forget all that? Making us forget the history of our Independence is this way is not correct... it is perilous, dangerous... bad. This should be taken back)."
Bhagwat had said on Monday that the Ram temple consecration day should be celebrated as “Pratishtha Dwadashi”, symbolising the establishment of India’s sovereignty after centuries of persecution. “The true independence of India, which faced centuries of parachakra (enemy attacks), was established on that day (the day the Ram temple was consecrated). India had secured independence but it was not established,” he had said.
The RSS, which didn’t play a major role in India’s freedom struggle and actively participated in the Ram temple movement, hails the construction of the shrine as a symbol of Hindutva pride. But Bhagwat was in recent times critical of efforts by Hindutva groups to spark temple-mosque controversies along the lines of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute.
However, on Monday, he had said: “India got freedom on August 15. We got political independence. We made a Constitution too… but the country was not run according to the spirit of the document.”
Mamata has been fiercely critical of such attempts by the saffron ecosystem to have Indian history rewritten to project the whole of Islamic rule in south Asia as foreign colonisation and retrogressive and to lionise Hindu kings such as Prithviraj Chauhan and Rana Pratap who fought Muslim invaders or rulers, vilify or demonise Muslim monarchs like Siraj ud-Daulah and Tipu Sultan, who fought the British colonisers.
“Yeh kabhi nahi ho sakta hay! Aisa karkey deshka pura itihas bhoola dengey toh deshka identity kya hoga? Yeh toh India ka naam bhi bhoola dengey, lagta hay (This can never happen! This way, if they make us forget the whole history of our nation, then what will happen to the nation’s identity? They will make us forget even the name of the nation, it seems). Is it correct? I think it is wrong,” said the Trinamool Congress chief on Thursday.
“India, Hindustan, Bharat, will go on forever, as will our azadi,” she added. “Chapters of our history have already been altered, as has our Constitution.... We are a country united in diversity... we are committed to preserving the history of Independence and are ready to sacrifice our lives for the country. We are not going to tolerate (this).”