Parakram Diwas: All you need to know about Bose anniversary controversy
Trinamool, which has alleged it wasn’t consulted in the decision-making process, wants to celebrate the day as Desh Nayak Diwas
The Centre’s announcement on Tuesday that legendary freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary on January 23 will be celebrated as Parakram Diwas (day of valour) has triggered a political row. Here is all you need to know about the controversy:
• West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Forward Bloc, which was formed by Bose in 1939, have alleged that they were not consulted in the decision-making process for Parakram Diwas.
• The TMC wants the day to be celebrated as Desh Nayak Diwas (the national hero’s day)
• The Forward Bloc, and a section of Bose’s family want January 23 to be observed as Desh Prem Diwas (day of patriotism).
• TMC has accused the Centre’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of performing a “stunt” ahead of the assembly elections in Bengal, where Bose is an icon.
Also read | Bose family, TMC, Left react sharply to ‘Parakram Diwas’ decision
• West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been demanding that January 23 be declared as a national holiday.
• The state is expected to go to the polls in the first half of this year with the BJP hoping to wrest power from the TMC after emerging as the second-biggest party in the state in 2019 national polls.
• Chandra Kumar Bose, a BJP leader and Bose’s grandnephew, has backed the demand for celebrating the day as Desh Prem Divas.
• The Centre appointed a panel headed by home minister Amit Shah to celebrate Bose’s 125th birth anniversary. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, her predecessor, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, and BJP’s Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh, among others, are part of the panel.
• The objections came hours after Union minister Prahlad Singh Patel announced plans to celebrate Bose’s 125th birth anniversary in 2022. The year-long celebrations will begin this January 23.
• Patel said Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the first Parakram Diwas event in Kolkata and inaugurate an exhibition on the grounds of the National Library to mark the occasion.