In its issue dated August 23, The Statesman had carried an interview by this correspondent of Chandra Kumar Bose (CKB), the grandnephew of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and grandson of Sarat Chandra Bose, who in spite of being in the BJP backed his political rival, Trinamool chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on a particular issue of concern. He told The Statesman that he was “completely on the same page with Didi” on her rejection of the idea that June 20 should be celebrated as “Bengal Foundation Day” as was done at Raj Bhavan, Governor House, on that day, that is June 20. CKB said that June 20 in fact, was a black-letter day for Bengal because it was on that day that the final decision was taken to divide Bengal permanently.
Five days later, this morning, CKB received a letter from the West Bengal chief minister asking him to join her in a discussion about the controversial decision taken by the central government to celebrate June 20 as “Bengal Foundation Day” without so much as bothering to inform the state government. Pointing out that there was no previous history of such a celebration, the West Bengal chief minister in her letter, written in Bengali said, “There was never any tradition of such a celebration taking place.”
Didi further stated in her letter, “I have, of course, already submitted a written communique to the Honorable Governor expressing my objection to the celebrations and other activities that took place that day as Bengal’s Foundation Day. The main reason for our protest and objection is that we are not at all clear on why they had decided to choose that date as a day to celebrate the day that Bengal was founded. The central government did not hold any discussion on this matter with us. The Honorable Governor did not clarify anything. West Bengal has never celebrated this day. We have never heard of or even read anything anywhere about this date, June 20, having any special significance as a day that can be considered Bengal’s Foundation Day. Therefore, the central government’s unilateral decision to suddenly celebrate this date as the day when Bengal was founded is shocking and disturbing.”
Inviting CKB to attend a meeting at Nabanna, the state secretariat, in the afternoon of Tuesday August 29 in order to further discuss the matter and come up with a plan to deal with issue, Didi wrote that she would be grateful if he would express his views on the matter.
“I will of course express my independent views on the matter,” CKB told The Statesman. “In my politics I try to take forward the philosophy of my granduncle Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and my grandfather Sarat Chandra Bose who rejected the idea of the division of Bengal. A number of politicians of the day at that time had felt that if Bengal was not divided, the Bengali Hindus would be persecuted in the Muslim majority of then East Pakistan and they advocated partition of Bengal. These politicians included Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the precursor to the Bharatiya Janata Party. But what was not taken into account was that more than twenty-two percent of the Hindus of Bengal nevertheless were left behind in the part that was divided out.” CKB further points out that the division of Bengal served the vested interests of a number of politicians who feared that Bengal, undivided, would become a powerful state, commanding as it would a large number of Members of Parliament. “This idea did not suit a number of politicians,” CKB told The Statesman.