Netaji insult row: West Bengal strips BJP MP of State honour
Even as the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose humiliation row threatened to snowball into a major controversy, the Bengal Government on Thursday moved swiftly, stripping the prestigious Banga Bibhushan Award from Rajya Sabha MP Anant Maharaj for his “derogatory remarks” against the iconic freedom fighter.
This even as one person from Islampur in North Bengal was on Thursday arrested following stern warning by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, asking people to withdraw derogatory posts from the Net. The Award was withdrawn following a notification from the State Information and Culture Department cancelling the honour.
The Government notification read: “The Government of West Bengal hereby withdraws and annuls the Banga Bibhushan conferred upon Shri Nagendra Ray alias Ananta Maharaj on 21st February, 2026 with immediate effec Consequently, Shri Nagendra Ray alias Ananta Maharaj shall cease to be entitled to represent himself as a recipient of the Banga Bibhushan and shall not hereafter use, claim or derive any recognition, privilege or benefit specifically arising from such conferment.”
The state Government’s order, would not, however, refer to any specific comment or incident.
Earlier, the Chief Minister had said that “the Government will not tolerate any insult to Netaji who is a national icon… all such posts should immediately be deleted from the social media and those who have done so must apologise though such apology do not guarantee any relief from legal action.”
He said that “any person, however high one is, will have to bear the consequence of insulting Netaji … the Government will take strict action against them.” He, however, would not take any name in particular.
Maharaj, a former leader of Greater Cooch Behar People’s Association and presently a BJP Rajya Sabha MP however, continued to remain defiant, saying his statements were sufficiently buttressed by facts.
The leader, who had earlier referred to Netaji as a war criminal who had ‘stolen British army and led them against the British Government, justifying a counter attack’ from the colonial rulers, said, “I don’t speak without documents it is not me who is talking it is the records that are speaking,” he said.
Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya publicly “discredited” such elements who would use derogatory words against Netaji “because he resides in the hearts of the Bengalis and people of India.” He said, “anyone political or apolitical who dares insult him should be strongly dealt with.”
BJP MLA Sourav Sikdar too reacted strongly to Ananta Maharaj’s statements, saying he had gone out of his mind. “Netaji is not only my biggest hero … he is a national icon and whoever insults him should be considered a mentally sick person,” Sikdar said.
TMC MLA and senior leader Kunal Ghosh on the other hand slammed the BJP leadership for its “political duplicity” even as he said, “Why are not they suspending or expelling Anant Maharaj for his statements if they are genuinely heart by what he said about Netaji … this is all political duplicity.”
Breakaway TMC leader and NCPI MP Sudip Bandopahdyay praised the Chief Minister for taking “strong action against those who have dared to speak against Netaji… I fully endorse his stance.”
Meanwhile, the supporters of BJP on Thursday protested near a Netaji statue at New Alipore in South Kolkata, where a statute of the freedom fighter was reportedly vandalised by unidentified miscreants, police said.
