Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - HT Navi Mumbai Live
PM pays tributes to Netaji ahead of Bengal elections
KOLKATA: Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid fulsome tributes to Subhas Chandra Bose on Saturday, travelling to Kolkata to launch year-long, nationwide celebrations of the freedom fighter’s 125th birth anniversary next year and just months ahead of West Bengal assembly elections that his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has vowed to win by a landslide.
Had he been alive, Netaji would have been proud of Atmanirbhar Bharat, the BJP-led central government’s initiative to reduce the country’s dependence on imports and build a strong and self-reliant India, the prime minister said at a programme held in Victoria Hall on the 125th birth anniversary of the iconic figure.
“The nation is following the path Netaji showed,” Modi said, invoking the spirit of nationalism Bose embodied. He added: “Netaji said that if you are true to yourself, you cannot be wrong to the world. We have to make zero-defect products for the world… I often think of how Netaji would feel, seeing India surging ahead, its army getting modern weapons, planes like Rafale guarding the nation, vaccines being produced in India. How proud he would have felt seeing India giving vaccines to other nations.”.
The birthday of Netaji would be observed as Parakram Divas (Bravery Day), the Modi government has announced, and the year leading up to his 125th birth anniversary would feature a series of cultural events dedicated to him. Some critics have accused the BJP of trying to appropriate Netaji’s legacy to gain political mileage in Bengal ahead of this summer’s election, in which home minister Amit Shah has vowed the party would win at least 200 of the 294 assembly seats . Even Saturday’s cultural event was not free of the shadow of intense rivalry between Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP, which made major inroads into Bengal in the 2019 national election, winning 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state.