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BJP, Congress to skip Mamata Banerjee’s all-party meeting on Foundation Day
A ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader said Banerjee wrote to the parties about reservations over the date (June 20) chosen as the Foundation Day
Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress will skip chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s all-party meeting on Tuesday to discuss the proposed West Bengal Foundation Day. Banerjee on Thursday last invited the opposition parties to the meeting. Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) was also unlikely to attend.
A ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader said Banerjee wrote to the parties about reservations over the date (June 20) chosen as the Foundation Day.
Governor CV Ananda Bose in June went ahead with the commemoration of the Foundation Day following a Union government advisory even as Banerjee called for canceling the programmes to mark it, saying it would rekindle bitter memories of the state’s creation after partition.
BJP backed Bose over the state Foundation Day, saying the Bengal legislative assembly met on June 20, 1947, and took a decision on the province’s partition.
A committee with deputy assembly speaker Ashish Banerjee as convenor and Harvard University professor and former TMC lawmaker Sugata Bose as advisor has recommended April 15 as the Bangla Day. It also suggested a state anthem.
BJP spokesman Samik Bhattacharya said they will not be attending the all-party. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said the same. “We will inform them,” he said.
Banerjee in June pointed out the state was not founded on any particular day, least of all on June 20, and that it was formed through the infamous Radcliffe Award, referring to the demarcation of India–Pakistan and what is now the India-Bangladesh–frontier. She requested Bose to cancel the celebrations while pointing out West Bengal was carved out through a painful and traumatic process after the partition that left tens of thousands dead and millions displaced.
Banerjee has maintained that they have since independence, never rejoiced, commemorated, or celebrated any day as the Foundation Day.
Bose’s office on May 11 clarified that the advisory on observing Foundation Day was sent to all states and that it commemorated the formation of other states on separate dates.
