by KOLKATA: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee on Sunday wrote to PM Modi, urging him to reconsider the Centre’s decision to exclude West Bengal’s tableau from the Republic Day parade in New Delhi in the 75th year of Independence, saying the move had not only “shocked and hurt” her but also “pained” people in Bengal, and pointing out that the omission “belittled” and “undermined” several freedom fighters from the state.
The proposed Bengal tableau was on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 125th birth anniversary, celebrating his Indian National Army, and had portraits of “some of the most illustrious sons and daughters of this country”, including Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, Sri Aurobindo, Matangini Hazra, Nazrul Islam and Birsa Munda.
“I have been profoundly shocked and hurt by the decision of the Government of India to abruptly exclude the proposed tableau of the Government of West Bengal from the ensuing Republic Day Parade,” the CM wrote to the PM, adding, “It is even more baffling for us that the tableau was rejected without assigning any reasons or justifications… I may like to inform you that all the people of West Bengal are deeply pained by this attitude of the central government. Bengal was at the forefront of the Indian freedom struggle and has paid the heaviest price for the country’s Independence through Partition and uprooting of millions of people. It is shocking to find that this contribution of its valiant freedom fighters finds no place in the nation’s ceremony to celebrate the occasion of the Republic Day in the 75th year of our Independence.”
Meanwhile, Trinamool MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy tweeted that the state government is thinking of bringing the tableau on Subhas Bose and his INA to Kolkata if it isn’t showcased in New Delhi as Netaji is goi-ng to be the central theme during the Red Road Republic Day parade.
The proposed Bengal tableau was on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 125th birth anniversary, celebrating his Indian National Army, and had portraits of “some of the most illustrious sons and daughters of this country”, including Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar, Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, Sri Aurobindo, Matangini Hazra, Nazrul Islam and Birsa Munda.
“I have been profoundly shocked and hurt by the decision of the Government of India to abruptly exclude the proposed tableau of the Government of West Bengal from the ensuing Republic Day Parade,” the CM wrote to the PM, adding, “It is even more baffling for us that the tableau was rejected without assigning any reasons or justifications… I may like to inform you that all the people of West Bengal are deeply pained by this attitude of the central government. Bengal was at the forefront of the Indian freedom struggle and has paid the heaviest price for the country’s Independence through Partition and uprooting of millions of people. It is shocking to find that this contribution of its valiant freedom fighters finds no place in the nation’s ceremony to celebrate the occasion of the Republic Day in the 75th year of our Independence.”
Meanwhile, Trinamool MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy tweeted that the state government is thinking of bringing the tableau on Subhas Bose and his INA to Kolkata if it isn’t showcased in New Delhi as Netaji is goi-ng to be the central theme during the Red Road Republic Day parade.
