West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on June 19 wrote to Governor C.V. Ananda Bose urging him not to hold an event at the Raj Bhavan on Tuesday to commemorate the foundation day of West Bengal.
Ms. Banerjee, in her communication, said the State was not founded on any particular day, least of all on any 20th of June. “I am stunned and shocked to know that you have decided to organise a programme on 20.06.2023, at Raj Bhavan, Kolkata, commemorating what you have peculiarly chosen to describe as ‘the State Foundation Day of West Bengal’,” the Chief Minister wrote.
Ms. Banerjee also pointed out to a telephone conversation between her and the Governor where he had “admitted that unilateral and non-consultative decision to declare a particular day as the Foundation Day of the State of West Bengal is not warranted” and was “kind enough to assure that you would not proceed to hold the programme”.
Issues invitation
Meanwhile, the Governor’s office has issued an invitation to observe the West Bengal State Foundation Day at the Throne Hall at the Raj Bhavan. The friction between the Raj Bhavan and the State government over observing State Foundation Day comes at a time when the differences between the two have come to the fore on the issue of holding panchayat polls in the State.
The Chief Minister pointed out that since Independence, people of 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 the unleashing of communal forces that could not be resisted at that point of time,” she added. In the two-page letter, she emphasised that the State was formed through the infamous Radcliffe Award, “which was given legitimacy by the departing colonial/imperial government”.
The Chief Minister called the Governor’s initiative as “unilateral” without following any procedure of obtaining necessary consent of the State Cabinet and the State Legislature and an act that “would hurt the sentiments of people and insult and defame the millions of people in West Bengal”.
She also raised protest against a communication of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, on this calling it “ahistorical, unconstitutional and unilateral decision of the Government of India”.
