E-Paper
‘Under SIR, EC would have summoned Netaji too’: Mamata Banerjee
The special intensive exercise (SIR) is being conducted by ECI in a manner that has turned it into a nightmare for citizens, Mamata said
KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party at an event to mark the 129th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, saying the Centre had been insulting national icons such as Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Bose and B R Ambedkar.
“The Centre is yet to declare a national holiday on Netaji’s birthday. Netaji envisaged the Planning Commission. This government dissolved it and formed the Niti Aayog. Nobody knows till now what Niti Aayog does,” Banerjee said at a state government event in Kolkata.
“Whether it is Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji or Balasaheb Ambedkar, everyone is being insulted today. Efforts are being made to make people forget the contribution of our heroes. Our languages are being insulted. Democratic rights of people are being violated,” she said.
“They want to alter history, culture and food habits. Tomorrow they may decide who you can fall in love with or whether you can have a child,” Banerjee added.
The chief minister also mounted a sharp attack on the Election Commission of India for the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of the state’s voter list, saying the exercise had turned into a nightmare for citizens.
“The torture you are making people go through will someday come back to you. More than 110 people have died in Bengal since the SIR started. Some of them died by suicide. Had Netaji been alive, they would have probably summoned him too for review, saying he was not a voter. Chandra Bose (Netaji’s grandnephew) has been sent a notice,” said Banerjee.
"Why shouldn't a case be filed against ECI? The ECI and the Centre are answerable for these deaths," Banerjee said.
The BJP, too, observed the day at several places, including the party headquarters in Kolkata.
In a series of posts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi outlined the steps taken by the central government to honour Netaji.
“A shining example of our efforts to shed colonial mindset and our reverence to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose can be seen in our decision to place his grand statue next to India Gate, in the heart of the national capital! This grand statue will inspire people for generations to come!” PM Modi said in one post.
Responding to Banerjee’s barbs, Bengal BJP unit president Samik Bhattacharya said the Trinamool Congress was essentially an offspring of the Congress that shabbily treated India’s freedom fighters.
“TMC is nothing but an offspring of the Congress. Does Mamata Banerjee remember that Congress did nothing to honour Netaji? Many Congress leaders made insulting remarks about him. It is the BJP government that acknowledged Bose’s contribution and his role in history,” Bhattacharya said.
On Banerjee’s attacks on EC, he said, “Everything will surface before the people after three months. Let the SIR process end.”
