Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday lambasted the BJP over the alleged neglect of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s legacy and worldview, demanding answers on why January 23 is yet to be made a national holiday, with an oblique reference to holidays declared by various states and by organisations controlled by the saffron camp for the Ram temple consecration event.
The Trinamul Congress chief, at a state government event to commemorate the birth anniversary of Netaji by his statue on Red Road here, hailed him as a “true leader” on account of his uncompromisingly inclusive, pluralist philosophy, apparently underscoring the difference between him and the majoritarian, divisive agenda of leaders in the saffron regime.
“A true leader of this country is one who is flanked by Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Parsis, and Buddhists, all around him. Where can such a leader be seen now? Where… where? Today, such a leader cannot be seen. Nobody like him was born after him,” said Mamata.
“If we had followed Netaji’s words and teachings, we would have been far more developed and successful as a nation,” she added.
The chief minister said it was a shame that Netaji’s birth anniversary was yet to be declared a national holiday.
“A man whom Mahatma Gandhi hailed as Deshneta (leader of the nation)… even after trying for 20 years, I have not been able to get Netaji’s birthday declared a national holiday. I am ashamed and I apologise,” said the chief minister, who has often taken the BJP to task over the delay on this.
“There can be a holiday for political publicity in this country, but not for an icon who sacrificed his life for the nation. The legacy of the freedom fighters weep,” she added, in an apparent reference to the Ram temple consecration event on Monday.
Mamata raised issues such as the abolition of the Planning Commission, envisaged by Netaji, and its replacement by Niti Aayog by the Modi government, besides the inordinate delays in the total declassification of files on the icon who went missing on August 18, 1945.
“It is our grave misfortune, as a nation. Someone who fought for our country, our freedom and gave us direction, we still don’t know the date of his demise. This lack of clarity, this darkness is utterly shameful,” she said.
“After our government came, we declassified 64 files (in 2015), comprising correspondence in the British Raj about our great leader, all
facts at our disposal were brought to the public domain,” she added. “The BJP, when it was not in power, had made tall claims about unveiling the mystery. Everything happened thereafter, but they forgot Netaji.”
Mamata called the Niti Aayog a directionless, powerless body that serves no real purpose for the states, unlike the Planning Commission.
“The Planning Commission was also scrapped by them. When it existed, I remember, every year I along with important principal secretaries and the chief secretary used to conduct meetings and discuss planning and money allocation to departments,” said Mamata.
“Niti Aayog has been created which has neither Niti (policy or principle) nor Aayog (commission). It is a wax statue, once in a while it wakes up for Mann Ki Baat (Modi address-the-nation programme)… and waves its head. Seldom in a year, it conducts a meeting. It is a powerless organisation… and doesn’t reflect the people’s concerns,” she added.
