KOLKATA: Hitting those led by BJP central government for abolishing the Planning commission conceptualized by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Prime Minister of West Bengal Mamata banerjee on Monday he said his government would create a similar body to advance the ideas and vision of the national hero.
She urged the Nobel Prize-winning economists Amartya sen and Abhijit Banerjee and Bose’s great-nephew, Sugata Bose, a historian, to advise the state government in this.
“The Netaji Planning Commission has been dissolved by the central government. They have called it (the new body that replaced the institution) Niti Aayog or Niti Niyog, I don’t know. Before, I used to go to meetings of the Planning Commission that they were looking for suggestions from each state. Now we can’t share our opinions, “Banerjee said.
The Planning Commission, a government institution that formulated India’s five-year plans in addition to performing other functions, was established in March 1950. The Narendra Modi government dissolved it in 2014 and formed Niti Aayog.
“So let’s take the initiative. We will start the Bengal Planning Commission to bring Netaji’s vision to the global level,” Banerjee said at the secretary of state.
“I will ask Amartya Sen, Abhijit Banerjee, Sugata Bose to advise us on this,” he said, demanding that Netaji’s birthday on January 23 be declared a national holiday.
She was speaking to journalists after a meeting of a committee created by her government to plan year-long celebrations to mark the 125th anniversary of the great freedom fighter’s birth starting on January 23.
Abhijit Banerjee and other members of the committee attended the virtual meeting.
The day will be celebrated as “Desh Nayak Divas” in West Bengal, Banerjee said, adding that a “Jai Hind Monument” will soon be erected in the Rajarhat area near Kolkata.
Netaji popularized the slogan ‘Jai Hind’.
The prime minister also proposed forming an organization similar to the National Cadet Corps (NCC) in state schools and universities and naming it ‘Jai Hind Bahini’.
“If the NCC exists, why can’t we have a Jai Hind Bahini in every school and university? We should have a short film or documentary about Netaji that schoolchildren can see. A CD of songs related to Netaji will be released,” she said.
Banerjee also said that the state government will establish a “national university” named after Netaji.
“There are several universities named after Netaji. We will establish a national university without the help of anyone. The West Bengal government will do it. This university will have links with world-class universities such as Havard, Cambridge and Oxford,” he said.
The prime minister said that a demonstration will be organized on January 23 from Shyambazar in northern Kolkata to Red Road in the central part of the city.
The CM also emphasized its demand that the Center declassify files that could lead to Netaji’s disappearance.
“We have already declassified (some files). We are demanding that the Center declassify all files related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose,” he said after the meeting.
In addition to the economist Abhijit Banerjee, eminent personalities such as the painter Suvaprasanna, the theater personality Rudra Prasad Sengupta, the author Sirsendhu Mukherjee, the actor and dancer Mamata shankar participated in the meeting and shared his views.
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