Finance
By: Shree1news, 10 JAN 2021
The Centre on Saturday announced a high-level committee, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to plan and determine on actions to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, starting January 23.
The 85-member committee, which has as many as 10 central ministers, seven chief ministers and several parliamentarians, also contains distinguished citizens, historians, authors, experts, family members of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, in addition to eminent individuals related to Azad Hind Fauj (INA), in response to an announcement issued by the Ministry of Culture. It also features actors Kajol and Mithun Chakrabarty, musician A R Rahman, cricketer Sourav Ganguly, and Medanta chairman Ravi Kasliwal. Raghvendra Singh, Secretary (Culture), is the convenor of the panel. Chief Ministers Naveen Patnaik (Odisha), Neiphui Rio (Nagaland), Biren Singh (Manipur), Zoramthanga ( Mizoram), Biplab Kumar Deb (Tripura) and Conrad Sangma (Meghalaya) are additionally included.
With the BJP preparing for a tough battle in the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal, the committee assumes political significance too. It features several BJP leaders from Bengal, including those in the Centre, such as Babul Supriyo and Debasree Choudhury, BJP state chief Dilip Ghosh, and MPs Roopa Ganguly, Raju Bista, Sunil Mondol, Jagannath Sarkar, Jayanta Kumar Roy, Saumitra Khan, Khagen Murmu and Jyotirmay Singh Mahato. With an overwhelming presence of BJP leaders, it also has Rajya Sabha members Swapan Dasgupta and Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Suvendu Adhikari, who resigned as TMC MLA to join the BJP, is also included.
While the ruling TMC in Bengal is represented by Sudip Bandhyopadhyay, apart from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee , Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury are included in the panel.
Ever since it started efforts to make inroads in West Bengal, where politics was as soon as dominated by the Left and Congress, and later by the TMC, the BJP has been trying to appropriate Bose and his legacy. The party criticises the Congress for sidelining leaders like Bose and B R Ambedkar to challenge the Nehru-Gandhi family. It’s now in a contest with the TMC to appropriate the legacies of Bengali icons ahead of the Assembly polls in the state, with the BJP-led Centre and TMC-led West Bengal government vying with each other to mark Netaji’s anniversary in a grand way.
Detailing the TMC government’s plans, Mamata Banerjee had announced setting up of a national university in Bose’s name, Azad Hind memorial, a body like the state planning commission to honour Netaji and books on his life. Banerjee additionally mentioned that January 23 will be celebrated with a grand parade in Kolkata and the Independence Day parade within the city can be devoted to Netaji. The CM stated she has written to the Centre, demanding that January 23 be declared a national holiday and all records regarding Bose’s disappearance be made public.
Source:A-N
