Governor ignores Mamata to hold Bengal ‘Foundation Day’

West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Tuesday organised the state’s ‘Foundation Day’ programme at Raj Bhavan here, despite objections raised by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

At the programme, Bose spoke on ‘zero tolerance’ for violence and emphasised the right of the common people to vote freely.

“I’m dedicated to the well-being and welfare of the people. Bengal has immense potential and is loaded with talents,” the governor said.

No representative of the state government was present at the event where a cultural programme was also held.

President Droupadi Murmu also on Monday congratulated the people of West Bengal on its foundation day.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in a letter to Bose on Monday night expressed “shock” at his “unilateral” decision to commemorate the state’s foundation day asserting that it “was not founded on any particular day, least of all on any 20th of June.”

The partition involved uprooting of lakhs of people across the border and death and displacement of innumerable families, she said in the letter.

Condemning this unilateral decision by the government of India, the ruling Trinamool Congress also tweeted: “The division of Bengal being a tragedy for millions of people, must not be celebrated. Moreover, the decision is not historically accurate in any way. The state was formed by the infamous Radcliffe Award, not on any particular day”.

Leader of the Opposition in state assembly Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP slammed the TMC for opposing the foundation day programme.

“Mamata Banerjee does not want to recognise the foundation day of the state as she thinks West Bengal lies in a different country. History cannot be made irrelevant,” he said.

On June 20, 1947, two meetings of separate sets of legislators in the Bengal Assembly were held. One of those who wanted West Bengal as part of India, voted in favour of the resolution by a majority. The other was of legislators of areas which eventually became East Pakistan.

For the district of Sylhet which was part of Assam, it was decided to conduct a referendum.

Nearly 2.5 million people were displaced from both sides and properties worth crores of rupees were burnt down in post-partition rioting.

The British Parliament passed the India Independence Act on July 15, 1947, without any clarity on the borders of the two states being torn apart – Bengal and Punjab.

On August 9 of that year, a joint statement was issued by outgoing Premier of Bengal HS Suharawardy And incoming Premiers of West Bengal and East Bengal, PC Ghosh and Khwaja Nazimuddin respectively, appealing for a peaceful and orderly transition and stating that boundaries of the Dominions are not yet fixed.

The Cyril Radcliffe Boundary Commission award for demarcating the borders was made public on August 17, two days after the formal announcement of independence.