West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose on Tuesday went ahead with his plans to observe the ‘State Foundation Day’ despite Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressing her strong reservation against such a commemoration. A march was organised by the cadets of the National Cadets Corps (NCC) followed by a cultural programme at Raj Bhavan. The Governor also made a speech on the occasion. The Kolkata Raj Bhavan also circulated President Droupadi Murmu’s greeting to the people of Bengal on the West Bengal Foundation Day.
On Monday, the Chief Minister had written to the Governor and said that the decision to observe the ‘State Foundation Day’ had been “unilateral”, without following the procedure of obtaining necessary consent of the State Cabinet and the State Legislature, and the act “would hurt the sentiments of people and insult and defame the millions of people in West Bengal”.
Ms. Banerjee said in her letter that the people of the State have never “rejoiced over, or commemorated, or celebrated” any day as the foundation day of West Bengal and rather have seen the Partition as a result of the unleashing of communal forces that could not be resisted at that point of time”.
