Kolkata
The West Bengal Legislative Assembly on Thursday passed a resolution declaring ‘Poila Baisakh’, the first day of the Bengali calendar, as ‘Bangla Dibas’ or West Bengal Foundation Day. The resolution was passed after a debate in the Assembly, with 167 MLAs voting in support of the resolution and 62 MLAs opposing the motion.
A controversy over the West Bengal Foundation Day had erupted earlier this year when Raj Bhavan had observed June 20, as the State Foundation Day. Participating in the debate in the State Assembly, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that since the country’s Independence, there was no particular day which was observed as the State Foundation Day and June 20 which brings back memories of partition has nothing to do with the foundation of the State.
“If we do not take steps from the government and the State Assembly, then a wrong day will be observed as the State Foundation day,” Ms. Banerjee said, adding that the decision to observe June 20 as the State Foundation Day was a “one-sided decision which was being forced on the State”.
Along with the decision of observing ‘Poila Baisakh‘ as ‘Bangla Dibas’ the State Assembly also passed a proposal of making Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Banglar Mati Banglar Jol’ (Bengal’s soil and Bengal’s water) the official song of West Bengal.
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari who spoke on the issue in the House said that the resolution will suffer the same fate as other resolutions passed by the State Assembly, like the ones on the role of Central agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation, protest against an increase in jurisdiction of the Border Security Force and setting up of the West Bengal Legislative Council. Mr. Adhikari led a team of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs to Raj Bhavan and urged the Governor not to give his assent to the resolution.
“It does not matter to us if the Governor signs the resolution or not. We will observe the State Foundation Day [on Poila Baisakh] Let us see whether the strength of the people is more than an unelected Governor,” the Chief Minister said. Later in the day, Ms. Banerjee told a journalist that since the Assembly has passed a resolution and not a Bill it does not require the Governor’s assent.
There was a heated debate in the Assembly on the resolution which was brought under the Rule 169 of the Rules of procedure of conduct of business in the House. The BJP Legislators came dressed in shirts with the slogan ‘June 20 Paschim Banga Dibas’ and a photograph of Jana Sangha founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee on it. Despite an appeal by Speaker Biman Banerjee to remove the shirts with the slogans, the BJP legislators wore it during the hour long debate.
Several BJP MLAs spoke about the contribution of Mookerjee and said that the Jana Sangha founder had played a key role when the State was divided on religious lines. The BJP leadership is insisting that June 20 should be the State’s Foundation Day as on that day in 1947 the Bengal Legislative Assembly held a meeting to decide if the Bengal Presidency would stay with India or Pakistan, or be divided, having the Hindu majority districts staying with India as West Bengal and the Muslim majority areas forming East Pakistan. After hours of debate, the Bengal Legislative Council and the Bengal Legislative Assembly voted for the Partition of Bengal along religious lines into two separate entities, and the Hindu majority districts became part of West Bengal and Muslim majority districts became part of East Pakistan.
Ms. Banerjee had called for an all-party meeting on August 29 to discuss which day should be observed as the State’s Foundation Day. The Speaker had also set up a committee and constituted historians including Professor Sugata Bose to deliberate on the issue. The Chief Minister said that ‘Poila Baisakh’ is an auspicious day for Bengalis and said that once the government is changed at the Centre the name of West Bengal will be changed to ‘Bangla’.
The West Bengal Assembly in 2018 passed a resolution to change the name of the State to ‘Bangla’ in three languages - Bengali, English and Hindi - and the proposal has been pending with the Centre since then. Referring to objections raised by the Centre against the name change as it would be similar to Bangladesh, the Chief Minister argued that there are two Punjabs, one in India and the other in Pakistan.
