New Delhi (Agency): On Tuesday, an all-party meeting convened by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will see empty chairs from four major political parties: the BJP, Left Front, Congress, and All India Secular Front (AISF). The meeting aims to discuss declaring Poila Boishakh, the Bengali New Year, as “Statehood Day” and to select a “State Song” for West Bengal.
The BJP has been vocal about its decision to boycott the meeting. Samik Bhattacharya, the BJP’s state spokesman, said they disagree with the idea of declaring Bengali New Year as Statehood Day because it lacks “scientific or historical perspective.” He said, “We do not want to be a party in the ploy of the state government to mislead people in the name of Statehood Day celebration.”
Left Front chairman in West Bengal, Biman Bose, expressed similar sentiments. He said that West Bengal was created by dividing “undivided Bengal,” which was a sad moment for many people displaced by the partition. “So we do not believe in celebrating any particular day as Statehood Day,” he said.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury stated that his party would also not participate in the meeting. He labeled the meeting as a “waste of time,” adding that if the focus had been on law and order in the state, the Congress would have considered attending.
Naushad Siddique, the lone AISF representative in the state Assembly, said he wasn’t even invited. “The question of deciding on whether to attend the meeting or not comes only if I had been invited. There is no question of going to the meeting uninvited,” he stated.
The collective decision to boycott the meeting raises questions about the political climate in West Bengal. It highlights the deep divisions among the parties regarding the state’s history and governance. While the current government under Mamata Banerjee wants to initiate a new tradition by declaring a Statehood Day, the major opposition parties remain skeptical.
