Mamata Banerjee on Sunday told Narenda Modi that she was “profoundly shocked and hurt” by the Centre’s decision to “abruptly exclude” the proposed Bengal tableau, in commemoration of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army on his 125th birth anniversary, from the Republic Day parade this year.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, the Bengal chief minister urged him to reconsider the decision and include the tableau in the January 26 event. “I have been profoundly shocked and hurt by the decision of the government of India to abruptly exclude the proposed tableau of the government of West Bengal from the ensuing Republic Day Parade,” wrote Mamata in the two-page letter.
“It is even more baffling for us that the tableau was rejected without assigning any reasons or justifications,” she wrote, adding that the proposed tableau was also to carry portraits of several other national icons from Bengal such as Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, Matangini Hazra and Kazi Nazrul Islam.
The letter from the Trinamul Congress chief was sent in response to purported rejection by the BJP-led Centre of the Bengal proposal for the tableau.
Senior Trinamul leaders in the Rajya Sabha, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy and Jawhar Sircar, had already spoken out against the decision on Saturday, with a political inference.
Sircar, formerly the Union culture secretary and the chief executive officer of India’s public broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, tweeted: “Is Modi now trying to take his revenge on WB & Netaji for rejecting him at 2021 polls? He spent Rs 13 crore (minister neither denies nor confirms) to begin his election campaign on Netaji Birthday in Kolkata last 23rd Jan — so Netaji gets his temper?”
Sources in Trinamul have alleged that Bengal’s proposal was dismissed in stark contrast to those of several BJP-ruled states, which have little to do with the theme of the 75th year of India’s Independence or the freedom struggle — including some proposals with “jarring saffron undertones”.
They said Mamata was “utterly displeased” with the decision and will seize from this the political opportunity to further corner the BJP over its alleged step-motherly treatment of Bengal and the saffron ecosystem’s “disregard” for the freedom struggle in which it did not participate.
In her letter on Sunday, Mamata told Modi that the people of Bengal were “deeply pained” by the attitude of the Centre.
She pointed out that Bengal was at the forefront of the freedom struggle and it paid the “heaviest price” for Independence through the Partition and uprooting of millions. She asserted that it was “shocking” that this contribution of the valiant freedom fighters found no place in the Republic Day ceremony in the 75th year of Independence.
Underscoring the crucial, immense contribution of 13 icons from Bengal — among countless others — to Indian nationalism and Independence, Mamata wrote: “The exclusion of the tableau amounts to belittling and undermining these freedom fighters.”
“I urge you to reconsider the decision and include the tableau of freedom fighters from West Bengal…. The tableau which showcases the sacrifices and contribution of the lakhs of freedom fighters will be the most befitting way to pay our respect and homage to all those great souls who fought for our freedom,” she concluded.
