Farmers Movement Archive

Memories of historical events emerge as poll discussion topics

Kolkata: Drawing parallels with history has always been a feature in Bengal’s political discourses. Now some of the darkest chapters of history have re-emerged as topics of discussion in poll-bound Bengal across political parties as well as common people. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday has termed the deaths in Sitalkuchi a “Nandigram-style genocide”. Similarly, the incident prompted many to compare it to Jallianwala Bagh massacre, another genocide that took place on April 13, 1919. While the official pages of BJP have not mentioned the 1946 Great Calcutta Killings, its supporters are posting pictures, writings on this particular event on social media. Assistant professor at Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata Anwesha Sengupta feels, “The attempt is to reinstate fear in the public memory by dragging the episode of 1946 because Calcutta has a history of being a riot-torn city.” In several poll campaigns, BJP is invoking Syama Prasad Mukherjee to shed away TMC’s ‘outsider party’ tag. According to BJP’s Mohit Roy, “It is an attempt to remind the Bengali Hindus that it is for Syama Prasad Mukherjee that they are living in a safe homeland, otherwise, it would have been Bangladesh.” TMC minister Bratya Basu said that it is an attempt to do communal politics and incite Bengali sentiments. After Narendra Modi’s claim that he did ‘satyagaraha’ for the freedom of Bangladesh, activist Kasturi Basu shared a poster on Facebook which states ‘Banglar Maayera Meyera Sokolei Muktijoddha’. She writes, “It is time to build resistance against the Fascists who try to distort history and erase them from collective memory.” To make people aware of the imminent dangers like farm laws, NRC and CAA, Hathras rape case, a video series ‘Amader Kotha’ by No-Vote-To-BJP campaign is citing memories from the past.

The Times of India

2021-04-13

Kolkata