KOLKATA: A fresh face-off between Raj Bhavan and the West Bengal state government erupted on Tuesday as West Bengal governor C.V. Ananda Bose, despite chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s objections, organised the state’s foundation day on Tuesday, titled Paschimbanga Diwas.
At the event held at Raj Bhavan in presence of BJP functionaries, Bose mentioned about ‘zero tolerance’ for violence and emphasised on the rights of the common people to vote freely. “I am dedicated to the well-being and welfare of the people, Bengal has immense potential and is loaded with talents,” the governor said.
State ministers and leaders of the ruling Trinamool Congress skipped the event.
Expressing her “shock” at Bose’s “unilateral” decision to commemorate the state’s foundation day, which she termed as a tragic episode, Bengal chief minister on Monday night wrote to Bose stating that “it was not founded (state’s foundation day) on any particular day, least of all on any of 20th of June.”
“Since independence, we never rejoiced over or 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,” Mamata wrote in her letter to Bose.
The Partition involved uprooting of millions of people across India-Bangladesh border and deaths and displacement of innumerable families, she mentioned in the letter.
Referring to her conversation over phone with Bose, Mamata said in her two-page letter, “Kindly refer to our discussions today when you had admitted that the unilateral and non-consultative decision to declare a particular day as Bengal’s Foundation Dar was not warranted. You were kind enough to assure that you would not proceed with the programme.”
The event at Raj Bhavan was followed by cultural presentations and a “peace run” by NCC cadets in the presence of the governor. The BJP leaders also took out a procession on Red Road to celebrate the event. The BJP demanded June 20 to be declared as a state holiday.
“May I know why the BJP leaders are so joyous about Bengal’s foundation day? They did not utter a single word about the day before. Will you please why this attempt to extort the history has been initiated?” tweeted TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh.
The state government and the governor were at loggerheads over the issues of alleged violence ahead of the upcoming panchayat polls. Bose visited a strife-hit area in South 24 Parganas and set up a grievance cell at Rajbhavan to receive complaints related to violence in the state and the TMC accused him of overstepping his limits. In his reply, Bose said he was doing duty as the governor of the state.