Even if the Trinamool Congress decided to skip the 'dinner politics' of the Congress by not attending a meeting organised by Sonia Gandhi, it is continuing with its anti-BJP politics in West Bengal. The proposed celebration of 'Khela Hobey Day' on August 16 will be held with much fanfare.
A delegation from a Hindu religious outfit, Sanatan Sanghshya, had recently visited the Raj Bhavan and requested the governor to intervene by asking the state government to change the date of celebration of Khela Hobey Day on August 16.
The governor told the delegation he would try his best to convince the chief minister to change the date of celebration.
The religious group's argument was that August 16 is a horrific day in the history of Kolkata as in 1946, the day was observed as Direct Action Day by the Muslim League in then undivided Bengal, to speed up the process of forming Pakistan. On that day, the Great Calcutta killings took place because of riots due to which around 10,000 people in the city died in a single day. Various Hindu religious groups mark the day as a black day in the history of Kolkata.
But the governor's intervention seems to have no impact as the Khela Hobey celebration is going to be a party affair, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee would donate several thousands of footballs to various clubs. On the same day, the BJP would observe a black day against Direct Action Day on August 16 to mourn the Calcutta killings 75 years ago.
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, then prime minister of united Bengal province, is known as the architect of the riots as he himself supervised it sitting in the Calcutta police headquarters in Lalbazar on that day, according to government documents. Ironically, the memories of that day are being revised even today.
With both BJP and TMC hitting the streets to observe their protest and celebration, respectively, the political situation in West Bengal is again going to be vitiated on Monday, with the possibility of daily life coming to a standstill.
A TMC spokesman said, "Our leader had declared the Khela Hobey Day long back. It was conveyed to everyone shortly after she received the mandate third time in a row."
The BJP, on the other hand, said that its programme was also decided long back.
"Since 2011, we have been observing, mourning the protest day against Calcutta killings. It's a day-specific event; Khela Hobey is not like that," said senior BJP spokesman Biswapriyo Roychowdhury.
Khela Hobey is a slogan first coined by an Awami League politician in Bangladesh long back. Shamim Osman, a fiery leader, was an MP who has made the slogan popular in Bangladesh politics. Osman's politics was allegedly laced with threats and heated up political debate. The BJP often teases Mamata Banerjee for bringing politics of Bangladesh into West Bengal.
While Mamata continues with anti-BJP policies in West Bengal, at the national level, many opposition parties found her decision to remain absent from Sonia Gandhi's dinner meeting with opposition leaders disturbing.
But TMC MP Saugata Roy said that his party could not be taken for granted.
"There is a procedure of attending meeting called by another party though they are also in opposition, like us in national politics. The invitation needs to come in advance and then we need to discuss that with our leader. Then only we can move forward. We cannot be taken for granted," said Roy.
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The feeling in political circles is that Mamata Banerjee would not like to 'disturb' her political ambition by attending a meeting where she would only be one among many participants. TMC would want to boast about the fact that it was she who defeated BJP, not Rahul Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi.
Asked about it, a Congress MP from West Bengal said, "Then what did Kamal Nath, Bhupesh Baghel and Ashok Gehlot do? Did they defeat Donald Trump?"
Interestingly, Kamal Nath was one of the Congress leaders Mamata Banerjee met during her recent Delhi trip. Others she met were Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Anand Sharma. Except Sharma, the other two gave legal advice to her and her party in matters relating to cases she is fighting.