Ahead of Polls, Mamata remembers Netaji Subhash Bose

TNI Bureau: Ahead of the Bengal Elections, which has generated much curiosity across the country, West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has sought to up the ante and put the ball in Centre’s court with a series of measures and demands.

To mark the occasion of the birthday of revolutionary freedom fighter Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, a cultural hero for Bengalis, Mamata Banerjee declared January 23 as ‘Desh Nayak Diwas’ in the state. Adding that nothing important has been done for Netaji after independence, she has written a letter to the Centre to declare 23rd January, birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, as a national holiday.

Amidst the reports that PM Narendra Modi may visit West Bengal on January 23, 2021, to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Netaji, Mamata announced that a rally will be taken out from Shyambazar to Netaji Statue in Kolkata at 12:15 PM on January 23, along with the police band. A tableau will also be displayed on the theme based on Netaji’s life on January 26.

Will restoring Netaji’s memory and patriotism amongst people help Mamta Banerjee and BJP to win over Bengal?

Mamata Banerjee has not stopped here. She also urged the Centre to declassify all the files of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose reminding BJP of its “failed promise”. In 2015, Mamata Banerjee had declassified 64 files, and in the subsequent year, the Central Government put 100 files in the public domain. However, none of the files shed lights on his mysterious disappearance.

It can be noted that the Centre had constituted 3 committees. While the Shah Nawaz Committee of Inquiry of 1956 and the Khosla Committee of 1974 concluded that Netaji died in a plane crash, the Justice Mukherjee Commission of Inquiry of 2005 concluded of him being alive after the crash. So, the puzzle remained unsolved.

It would be interesting to see if Mamata succeeds in invoking the sense of patriotism among the people in Bengal and derive any electoral mileage in the wake of BJP’s pitch for an aggressive nationalism.