West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday chose Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary to garner support for her drive against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR).
A day after the Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo held a rally in Darjeeling to protest the CAA issue where she reassured the Gorkha community of no division amongst people, she said that Netaji believed in secularism.
“Netaji had said ‘You give me blood, I’ll give you freedom’ and here people are dying in the fight against CAA and NRC. We will walk the path of Netaji and Gandhiji,” said Mamata.
Mamata went on to say that Netaji was inclusive in his approach towards communities, citing Shahnawaz Khan as his close friend who was also part of the Indian National Army (INA) and fought in World War II. Khan was later convicted for treason and sentenced to death by the British Indian Army.
The INA was formed by the Indian nationalists in South East Asia in 1942. The INA charge was later handed over to Netaji.
Mamata also chose to include how Netaji was secular in his thinking and embraced all communities while drawing parallels to TMC’s of inclusiveness of religious ideologies.
”When Netaji gave a speech in West Bengal, he said he condemns the Hindutva ideology. Whatever is happening now is spoiling the name of religion. If we are Hindus, does it mean we should not think about others?” added Mamata.
She also added that there can be no leader like Netaji and emphasized that his words should be remembered.
The West Bengal Chief Minister is making all efforts to garner support from opposition parties and people at large to stand up against the BJP and the CAA-NRC-NPR issue which has seen massive protests across the country.