Amid BJP-TMC contest over Bengali icons, Centre types panel to plan Netaji anniversary celebrations

The Centre on Saturday introduced a high-level committee, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to plan and resolve on actions to commemorate the a hundred and twenty fifth delivery anniversary celebrations of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, beginning January 23.
The 85-member committee, which has as many as 10 central ministers, seven chief ministers and a number of other parliamentarians, additionally consists of distinguished residents, historians, authors, consultants, relations of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, in addition to eminent individuals related to Azad Hind Fauj (INA), in keeping with a press release issued by the Ministry of Culture. It additionally options 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 making ready for a troublesome battle within the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal, the committee assumes political significance too. It options a number of BJP leaders from Bengal, together with these within the Centre, corresponding to 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 amazing presence of BJP leaders, it additionally has Rajya Sabha members Swapan Dasgupta and Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Suvendu Adhikari, who resigned as TMC MLA to hitch the BJP, can be included.
While the ruling TMC in Bengal is represented by Sudip Bandhyopadhyay, aside from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee , Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury are included within the panel.
Ever because it began efforts to make inroads in West Bengal, the place politics was as soon as dominated by the Left and Congress, and later by the TMC, the BJP has been attempting to acceptable Bose and his legacy. The get together criticises the Congress for sidelining leaders like Bose and B R Ambedkar to venture the Nehru-Gandhi household. It is now in a contest with the TMC to acceptable the legacies of Bengali icons forward of the Assembly polls within the state, with the BJP-led Centre and TMC-led West Bengal authorities vying with one another to mark Netaji’s anniversary in a grand manner.
Detailing the TMC authorities’s plans, Mamata Banerjee had introduced establishing of a nationwide college in Bose’s identify, Azad Hind memorial, a physique just like the state planning fee to honour Netaji and books on his life. Banerjee additionally mentioned that January 23 might be celebrated with a grand parade in Kolkata and the Independence Day parade within the metropolis might be devoted to Netaji. The CM mentioned she has written to the Centre, demanding that January 23 be declared a nationwide vacation and all data regarding Bose’s disappearance be made public.

The Centre had introduced the structure of this panel greater than two weeks in the past, initially deliberate to be headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah. But sources say the delay in its formation occurred because the BJP management has been busy tackling the farmer protests and planning the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine.
As per the Ministry’s assertion, the committee will lend steering to the commemoration actions in Delhi, Kolkata and different locations related to Netaji and Azad Hind Fauj, in India and overseas. It is more likely to meet quickly.

Keen to not miss the bus forward of the Assembly elections, the Ministry of Culture is finalising its personal schedule of actions. Union Culture Minister Prahlad Patel — additionally a part of the central panel — informed The Sunday Express, “The Ministry of Culture has planned several activities to mark this momentous occasion. Even as Kolkata will be a starting point on January 23, the year-long celebrations will spread across the entire country.”
Patel has already chaired a gathering with senior officers from the ministry, apart from relations of Bose and a piece of historians and Army veterans. As per the deliberations, the Bose museum at Red Fort, inaugurated by PM Modi on Netaji’s 122nd delivery anniversary, might be expanded and a devoted museum will come up in Kolkata. A calendar of vital dates related to Netaji might be drawn up and embassies might be concerned in taking the commemoration past Indian shores. On January 23, a grand exhibition on Netaji might be held at Victoria Memorial, Kolkata.