Ahead of the Bengal polls, the Centre on Tuesday announced to celebrate Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s birthday on January 23 as ‘Parakram Diwas’ (Valour Day) every year with Prime Minister Narendra Modi all set to attend the first day of programme in Kolkata on Bose’s 125th birth anniversary. He will also inaugurate an exhibition on the grounds of the National Library to mark the occasion in the state.
However, the decision was slammed by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress which termed it as poll gimmicks while evoking a mixed response from Subhas Chandra Bose’s grandnephew CK Bose, who is also a BJP leader.
TMC leader Saugata Roy said that the declaration to celebrate the day as ‘Parakram Diwas’ has been made with an eye on upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls. He said that there shouldn’t be politics in Netaji’s name.
Roy added that if the Prime Minister wanted to do it, he could have done it six months ago. “Why on the eve of Netaji’s birthday and just before the Assembly Elections in the Atate?”
He added that TMC is not happy with the Government’s decision. “We are not satisfied with the Government’s decision to celebrate Netaji’s birthday as ‘Parakram Diwas’. It should be ‘Deshprem Diwas’. We believe Netaji deserves much better. We will observe this day on our own with Mamata Banerjee leading a procession in the State,” said Roy.
Earlier, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the Modi Government to declare the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose as a national holiday.
Naren Chatterjee, state secretary of the Forward Bloc, the party formed by Netaji in 1939, said, “Instead of ‘Parakram Diwas’, the day should be celebrated as ‘Desh Prem Diwas’. The demand to observe January 23 as ‘Patriotism Day’ was made by the Left Front when it was in power”.
CK Bose, a BJP leader and Netaji’s grandnephew said that “Netaji was India’s liberator. We welcome the announcement but people have been celebrating January 23rd as ‘Deshprem Diwas’. It would’ve been more appropriate, had the government announced it as Deshprem Diwas. But we’re happy about the announcement.”
Earlier in the day, Union minister Prahlad Singh Patel had at a press conference announced the Government’s decision and said that in this regard a notification has also been issued.
“The Government has decided to observe January 23 as ‘Parakram Diwas’ to commemorate the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the first ‘Parakram Diwas’ programme in Kolkata on January 23 on Bose’s 125th birth anniversary and inaugurate an exhibition on the grounds of National Library to mark the occasion, Patel said.
Patel said PM Modi will also felicitate prominent members of the Indian National Army formed by Bose and their family members in Kolkata on Saturday.
He said 200 Patua artistes from West Bengal will make a painting on a 400-metre-long canvas depicting Bose’s life.
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan will participate in a programme in Cuttack, Odisha, where Bose was born while another programme will be held in Haripura village in Gujarat’s Surat district where Bose was elected as president of the Indian National Congress in 1938.
The culture ministry is also considering building a memorial in the honour of around 26,000 martyred members of the INA, Patel said adding that a 85-member high-level committee helmed by PM Modi has been formed to plan year-round programmes to mark the 125th birth anniversary of the freedom fighter.