At a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday, former Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said that Mamata Banerjee is from Bengal and she comes so often to New Delhi. But has she or her nephew (Abhishek Banerjee) ever bothered to offer flowers at Subhas Bose statue here?

The Trinamul Congress reacted to the accusation with a tweet in its official handle. It read: “Accusing Chairperson @MamataOfficial of neglecting Netaji’s memorial in Delhi is not just factually inaccurate, but reveals a startling lack of understanding. Contrary to @BJP4India MP @rsprasad’s claims: The GoWB declared Netaji’s birth anniversary as a state holiday to honour his memory. Every year, on January 23, Smt. Mamata Banerjee personally visits his statue at Maidan and offers heartfelt floral tributes.

Furthermore, the GoWB took the proactive step by declassifying 64 files related to Bose, along with 8 DVDs containing over 12,000 pages of valuable historical information. If anything, it is the BJP-led Central Government’s outright rejection of a proposed tableau on Netaji and the INA for the Republic Day parade in 2022, without offering any justification, that leaves many questioning their commitment to honoring the freedom fighter’s legacy.”

Trinamul Congress spokesperson and minister Dr Shashi Panja, reacting to the statement by former Union law minister, said, “Do not lecture us on nationalism. Bengal is the soil where freedom was fought. It is the BJP leaders, who come to Bengal and say wrong things about the heroes of Bengal, be it Netaji Subhas Bose or Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar or others.

And you accuse our leader of disrespecting Netaji by not offering flowers at Kartavya Path? Who stopped Bengal’s tableau on Netaji from going to New Delhi? Mamata, in fact, has declassified the files of Netaji, but why didn’t the central government declassify, answer us.” Netaji’s grandnephew Chandra Kumar Bose, reacting to the fiasco said, “There has always been politics over Netaji. It is high time they stop doing that and instead, should stop doing politics of hate, against which Netaji had fought against.

He is the only leader who brought people from all religions together and included them in his Azad Hind Fauj and Azad Hind government. Netaji’s ideals need to be followed, whichever party can ensure that will be showing respect to him.”