Amid the increasing bitterness between Congress and Trinamul, leaders of both parties came together on Monday to pay tribute to Congress patriarch A.B.A. Ghani Khan Choudhury on his 95th birth anniversary.
Trinamul Rajya Sabha MP Mausam Noor, party’s former district chairman Abu Naser Khan Choudhury, senior Trinamul leader Dulal Sarkar walked with Congress MP Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury, and Congress leaders Isha Khan Choudhury, Mottakin Alam and others. They offered flowers to the tomb of the towering Congress leader fondly called Barkatda, at Kotwali, the ancestral home of the Khan Choudhury family located on the outskirts of Malda town.
Since 2019, fissures had cropped up within the family as Noor left Congress and jointed Trinamul.
Over the past couple of years, she and her party leaders observed Ghani Khan Choudhury’s birth anniversary separately. She did not join her uncle and cousin (Abu Hasem and Isha Khan) in the function.
“Despite staying in the same house, she did not join them. In fact, she had built a separate entrance to enter the house. Today (Monday), however, a different scene was witnessed as not only Mausam Noor, but her party leaders too, joined the Congress leaders to observe the day,” said a political observer.
Recently, relations between Congress and Trinamul have turned bitter. While on one hand, state Congress chief and MP Adhir Ranjan Choudhury has fumed at Mamata Banerjee and her party for allegedly helping the BJP , the Trinamul supremo has also come up with rebuttals. Even on Monday, she criticised the Congress while speaking at an event in Calcutta.
In such a time, amity between the two political camps here was a rare sight.
As all of them reached Ghani’s tomb, Noor, who stood next to her uncle Abu Hasem, was seen offering the tray of flowers to him.
Later, leaders of both parties also reached to Rathbari, a prominent crossing in Malda town, and offered homage to Ghani’s statue that has been installed there by the Englishbazar municipality some years back.
“He (Ghani Khan Choudhury) never divided people on the lines of politics or religion. He was truly a secular personality. So people of all parties observed his birth anniversary together. There is nothing wrong in it,” said Noor.
Senior party leaders Krishnendu Narayan Choudhury and Dulal Sarkar also echoed her.
“We are into politics for him. He is an ideal for us and our leader Mamata Banerjee too, has huge respects for him,” said Sarkar.
Leaders of Congress, too, sounded mellowed.
“Ghani Khan Choudhury never left Congress but at the same time, he treated the opposition parties with due dignity. This is why even the leaders of other political parties have felt the urge to pay homage to him,” said Isha Khan Choudhury, Ghani’s nephew and a former Congress MLA.