Controversies have erupted over the decision of Centre and the State to mark different days as West Bengal Day. While the Centre has earmarked June 20 to celebrate the West Bengal Day, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wants to mark Poila Baisakh or the first day of the month of Baisakh — according to the Vangabda calendar — as the Paschim Banga Divas.
She has also proposed a song like many others States as the State Song so to say. In while convening an all-party meeting on August 29 to arrive at a consensus Banerjee has also written a letter to the Centre criticizing its “unilateral decision” to declare June 20 for the purpose. “I did not hear that West Bengal was established on June 20.
The Centre’s unilateral decision is surprising and alarming.” Incidentally June 20 is associated with the infamous Radcliffe Award partitioning eastern frontiers of India and Pakistan — in this case West Bengal and East Bengal or Bangladesh.
In an apparent view to shoot down the BJP’s attempt to get June declared as the State Day the TMC Government has written a letter to all the parties inviting them on August 29 for a meeting on the issue.
“The CM will be holding an all-party meeting on August 29 on Paschim Banga Divas. She wants to know the opinions of other political leaders
on holding the statehood day on Poila Baishakh,” the letter reads. A panel in this regard — comprising Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, Education Minister Bratya Basu, Urban Development Minister and Kolkata Mayor
Firhad Hakim etc with its advisor being Harvard University Professor and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s grand nephew Sugata Bose — has proposed a ‘state song’.
Poet Laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Banglar Mati Banglar Jol’ (Bengal’s earth and Bengal’s water) is one of the songs that have reportedly been shortlisted for the State song, sources said.
While the BJP leadership said the idea of a West Bengal Day was first given by the saffron outfit which proposed June 20 as the day “the TMC
is unnecessarily trying to hijack the idea … how can it justify its claims.”
The leader however would not reply as to whether his party would send any representative to the meeting called by Banerjee. Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar said: “It was on June 20, 1947, that the legislative assembly of Bengal met and took a decision on the Bengal partition.
This is history. We cannot deny it.”
The Left on the other hand said that it was more interested in solving the State’s issues “like unemployment, price rise, law and order issues, corruption, infrastructure and basic services to the people rather than diverting the public attention on “trivial issues.”
“It is better to develop West Bengal, bring industries, generate employment, curb corruption, provide right prices of crops to the farmer, bring down prices of essential commodities than to fight on a specific Day,” said Samik Lahiri a CPI(M) leader adding these were all tactic to divert attention from real issues “both by the Centre and the State” ahead of the general elections.