oppn parties Fighting Over Netaji's Legacy On His 125th Birth Anniversary

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oppn parties
Fighting Over Netaji's Legacy On His 125th Birth Anniversary

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-01-23 03:43:12

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

The fight over Bengal's icon took an interesting turn today as both the Centre and the state geared up to celebrate Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's 125th birth anniversary in a grand and befitting manner. While the Centre declared the day as Parakram Diwas, the state government will celebrate it as Deshnayak Diwas. While Prime Minister Modi will visit Kolkata to attend several events on the occasion, chief minister Mamata Banerjee is going to chart her own course with a rally in north Kolkata. As the state elections near, both the BJP and the TMC are trying to appropriate Bengal's icons and the TMC spares no efforts to paint the BJP as 'outsiders' who know nothing about Bengal's heritage, culture and traditions. The BJP, on the other hand, is trying to prove this wrong by going all out to celebrate Netaji's birthday in a grand manner.

The Centre has already renamed the train Howrah-Kalka Mail as Netaji Express and there are strong rumours that the Victoria Memorial might be renamed either after Netaji or the Azad Hind Fauj but one thinks that it is highly unlikely that the government will take this step. But the state government, angry that the Centre did no accede its request to declare Netaji's birthday a national holiday and with the ensuing elections in mind, does not want the BJP or the Prime Minister to upstage Mamata Banerjee. Hence it is steering clear of the events where the Prime Minister is expected to go. One is not sure what kind of signal it will send to the common man when the Centre and the state fight over an icon and do not celebrate his birth anniversary jointly.

But as the state readies itself for elections which are expected to be hotly contested, divisive and violent, there will be more such occasions when the Centre and the state will not see eye to eye and there will be major tiffs in the coming couple of months. As the BJP continues to poach leaders from the TMC, the regional party is bristling with anger although it is showing nonchalance in public. Used to brushing aside the feeble competition from the Left of the Congress, both of whom it has systematically decimated, the TMC is now feeling the heat and does not want to share the stage with BJP leaders in the run up to the elections. Still, one feels that it is an insult to Netaji's legacy that the Centre and the state could not agree to celebrate his 125th birth anniversary together.  

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