Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has called for an all-party meeting at the state secretariat on 29 August to discuss a new date for ‘Paschim Banga Divas’, or statehood day.
The move comes after a committee appointed by the state assembly’s Speaker Tuesday submitted a note proposing that ‘Poila Baishakh’, the Bengali new year, be observed as West Bengal’s statehood day. Raj Bhavan — the official residence of Governor C. V. Ananda Bose — had observed statehood day on 20 June this year, a decision that Mamata had fiercely opposed.
The Speaker-appointed committee has also recommended Rabindranath Tagore’s song ‘Banglar Mati Banglar Jol’ — penned in protest of the partition of Bengal — as the state anthem, citing other states that have their own song.
Historian and former MP of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), professor Sugata Bose, told ThePrint that 20 June reminds one of the “communal holocaust” of 1947. “The Bengal assembly decided on this day if United Bengal should be partitioned. It is a sad footnote of the tragic history of Partition.”
He further said: “While there is no precedent of West Bengal observing a statehood day until earlier this year, the BJP has been marking 20 June as statehood day as their founder Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee wanted Partition for the Hindus. While PM Modi blames Pandit Nehru for the Partition, we see them celebrate Bengal’s statehood day that goes against the idea of Bengal.”
Bose, who is adviser to the Speaker-appointed committee that includes Deputy Speaker Asish Banerjee, ministers Firhad Hakim, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay and Bratya Basu — set up to decide on an alternative date for statehood day — also suggested that Tagore’s ‘Banglar Mati Banglar Jol’ be made the state’s anthem.
Bengal Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay told ThePrint, “The governor marked West Bengal statehood day without consulting us. The honourable CM has asked for an alternative date and we have submitted our suggestions. The decision will be finalised after the all-party meeting.”
The TMC is likely to move a resolution in the assembly after next week’s all-party meet to officially fix the statehood day date.
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What happened on 20 June, 1947?
On 20 June 1947, the Bengal assembly voted on the fate of the Bengal Province — whether it should remain, as a whole, in India, or go to the new state of Pakistan after Partition, and or whether it should be divided into East and West Bengal.
Two rounds of voting took place among the legislators. In the first, the legislators opposed the division 120-90, in favour of the entire province becoming part of Pakistan. But non-Muslim majority legislators voted in favour of the partition of Bengal 58-21, but for it to remain within India.
Post Partition of India, the Muslim-majority East Bengal became part of Pakistan, while Hindu-majority West Bengal remained within India.
‘Hindu identity vs Bengali identity’
Explaining the objections to observing 20 June as statehood day, political analyst Snigdhendu Bhattacharya told ThePrint: “This is a reflection of the battle between the Hindu identity and the Bengali identity. The Sangh Parivar highlights 20 June as the birthday of West Bengal which was, by their claims, conceived as a homeland for Bengali Hindus.”
Bhattacharya said the BJP has been observing 20 June as ‘Paschim Banga Divas’ since long before Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ascent to power, though they used to be small-scale events held in their state unit office.
“This date is crucial for them to remind the people of the state that Bengali Hindus got saved on that day because SP Mookerjee ensured Pakistan did not include western Bengal. The TMC, on the other hand, is appealing to the Bengali identity. It is a day celebrated in both Bengals — West Bengal and Bangladesh — though one day after the other,” he added.
Bhattacharya further said that “we also need to remember that Poila Baishakh, just like the first day of several other regional calendars, is different from the Hindu nav varsh (new year) that the Sangh Parivar wants to popularise”.
The politics
The BJP sees Mamata’s move as a bid to consolidate Bengali votes ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. “Poila Baishakh is already celebrated across the state, Mamata Banerjee wants to use the same date to play up the Bengali sentiments as there is an election in the offing. One cannot erase history, that West Bengal was born the day it decided to stay in India on June 20, 1947, by means of voting in the Bengal assembly. I don’t see any other reason for her to suddenly mark a date which they haven’t done since coming to power in 2011,” BJP leader Swapan Dasgupta told ThePrint.
The Congress, however, is yet to decide if it will back its ‘INDIA’ ally in West Bengal. “An all-party meet is a good call, but the chief minister should discuss more serious issues of the state with the political parties. Let a date be picked for statehood day, but there is no larger significance. Whether the Congress will support a new date, the party will discuss and decide before the meeting takes place,” said Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya.
On 19 June, Mamata had written to Governor Ananda Bose, objecting to 20 June being observed as West Bengal’s statehood day. In the letter, seen by ThePrint, she wrote: “I am stunned and shocked to know that you have decided to organise a programme on June 20 at Raj Bhavan, commemorating what peculiarly chosen to describe as ‘the state foundation day of West Bengal’. Since independence, we in West Bengal have never rejoiced over or commemorated or celebrated any day as the foundation day of West Bengal. Rather, we have seen the partition as a result of unleashing of communal force that could not be resisted at that point in time.”
The governor however proceeded to observe statehood day on 20 June at Raj Bhavan with a cultural programme and address to the citizens. In response to Mamata’s letter, he said he was only adhering to a circular sent by the Ministry of Home Affairs that was also sent to the chief secretary of West Bengal.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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