Mamata reiterates demand to declare Netaji's birth anniversary as a national holiday

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said her repeated demands to announce Netaji's birth anniversary as a national holiday went unheard for years. Speaking on the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at Red Road, Banerjee apologized for that.

"Netaji stands for unity, trust and sacrifice…Had we listened to what Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose said before independence, had we followed his words, India would have been a more developed country. Bose focused on three things: determination, dedication and devotion. These are three keys to success. Renunciation and realization were two mantras of life,” Banerjee said.

“They can give holidays for political programmes but not for Netaji’s birth anniversary,” Banerjee noted. Banerjee had earlier written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to declare January 23, the birthday of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, as a national holiday. Banerjee said it is shameful that even after so many years of the disappearance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, people have no idea what happened to the leader and do they have the date of his death. “We show respect to Netaji, Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda and Gandhiji…Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had created the Planning Commission. Bow to the person who fought for the country but we have no idea about his day of death,” Banerjee said, adding, “After we came to power, I have released 64 files and brought it to the public domain. The BJP before coming to power said that they will search what happened to him but they have forgotten.”


Shamik Bhattacharya, chief spokesperson of BJP, said, “She has come from Congress herself and the country knows what Congress did to Netaji. Now she wants a holiday on Netaji’s birth anniversary and people of the state will give holiday to Mamata Banerjee.”