Mamata Criticizes BJP For ‘Trying To Distort’ History on Bengal Foundation Day

Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, said on Tuesday that the BJP is attempting to misrepresent the state’s history and that if June 20 is not objected to, it would be declared the State Foundation Day.

There were two different gatherings of the Bengal Assembly’s lawmakers on June 20, 1947. A majority of those who supported the motion voted in favor of including West Bengal in India. The other group consisted of lawmakers from what would one day become East Pakistan.

The State Foundation Day was commemorated on June 20 this year in the Raj Bhavan here and in other states despite significant opposition from the chief minister, per a directive from the Centre.

“They (the BJP) want to change history. At an all-party conference to choose a day to observe “Paschimbanga Divas” (state’s foundation day), Banerjee, who is also the Trinamool Congress leader, remarked, “If we don’t oppose it, then this day (June 20) would be established as State Foundation Day.”

Banerjee questioned why the CPI(M), CPI, Congress, and BJP did not attend the meeting given that, with the exception of the saffron party, all of them, along with the TMC, are members of the opposition bloc INDIA.

CPI (M) and CPI are wondering why this meeting was scheduled on the State’s Foundation Day while I am a member of the INDIA alliance, Banerjee stated.

Several luminaries testified in favor of April 15 being recognized as the state’s founding day, including poet Subodh Sarkar and prominent historian Sugata Bose, who is the grandnephew of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Poila Baisakh, the Bengali New Year, is observed on April 15.

After a committee appointed by the West Bengal Assembly to choose the date for “Paschimbanga Diwas” (the state’s founding day) advised that it be marked on April 15 as “Bangla Diwas,” it was decided to hold the all-party conference.

This year’s celebration of the day on June 20 had sparked a tumult in the state as Banerjee accused the BJP and Governor CV Ananda Bose of exploiting the state’s “Foundation Day” for political purposes and advancing a narrative favored by the saffron camp.

Despite Banerjee’s protests, the governor organized the state’s “Foundation Day” function at Raj Bhavan and promised that the state government’s worries would be “treated with all seriousness.” In the whole state, the BJP had also commemorated the day.

It was agreed to hold a referendum for the Sylhet district, which was a part of Assam.

During the post-partition violence, about 2.5 million individuals from both sides were evicted and homes worth crores of rupees were destroyed.

Banerjee previously claimed in a letter to the governor CV Ananda Bose that the people of West Bengal had never observed a day as “Foundation Day” since India’s Independence because of the anguish and trauma of the split.