Narendra Modi & Mamata Banerjee on same dais to celebrate Netaji birth anniversary in Kolkata?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee are likely to share stage on Saturday in Kolkata where a programme is being organised by the Centre to mark Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s 125^th birth anniversary. A year-long celebration has been planned that will be started tomorrow by the PM.

PM Modi will reach Kolkata for the programme at Victoria Memorial Hall, and Banerjee is likely to be present as well. The programme is scheduled from 4-7 pm tomorrow. Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar is among the speakers along with Mamata Banerjee. Modi will be in Kolkata from Assam, where he is scheduled to attend another programme. He will also visit the National Library where he will speak on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

The Union Ministry of Culture has constituted a high-level committee to commemorate the o 125^th birth anniversary celebrations of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, starting January 23, 2021. PM Modi is the chairperson of the 85-member committee, of which Mamata Banerjee is a member along with former Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattachajee. BCCI chairperson Saurav Ganguly is also part of the committee. The committee has 10 central ministers, seven chief ministers, family members of Netaji and so on. BJP MPs from Bengal and former Trinamool Congress leaders who recently joined the BJP – such as Sunil Mondal and Suvendu Adhikari are also part of the committee, and will be present at the programme on Saturday. It is not clear whether Saurav Ganguly will attend the programme, as he has recently been discharged from hospital.

While the Centre wants to celebrate Netaji’s birth anniversary as “Parakram Diwas”, Banerjee has objected to it and said that the state will mark it as “Deshnayak Diwas”. The PM and the Bengal CM being on the same dais under this backdrop will thus be significant.