Taking a decision to reject the Republic Day tableau for the state of West Bengal, the Union Ministry of Defence has sparked a fresh row between West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Centre. There was no specific reason given for the rejection of the tableau to be displayed in the parade.
“The tableau proposal of West Bengal government was examined by the expert committee in two rounds of meetings. The tableau proposal of the West Bengal government was not taken forward for further consideration by the committee after deliberations in the second meeting,” the ministry said in its statement.
Sensing a potential backlash, the ministry in its statement added, “It is pertinent to mention here that the tableau of the Government of West Bengal was shortlisted for participation in the Republic Day Parade 2019 as an outcome of the same process.”
Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy spoke to a bevy of reporters slamming the decision of the Defence ministry. He told NDTV, “The rejection of the West Bengal tableau for the Republic Day parade is discriminatory. It has been done because West Bengal has been opposing the Centre’s CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) and the NRC (National Register of Citizens) plans.”
“West Bengal is known to be living state as far as culture, including arts, music and other things are concerned. So obviously, this is a discriminatory step taken by the central government against West Bengal,” Mr Roy added.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, he said, “To exclude Bengal would be gross discrimination. Bengal represents a rich heritage and its exclusion shows the partisanship of the Modi-Shah duo.”
West Bengal minister of state for Parliamentary affairs Tapas Roy told the PTI that it harboured a ‘vindictive attitude’ towards the state because it had protested the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). He said, “Just because West Bengal has been opposing anti- people policies of the BJP government, a step-motherly treatment is being meted out to the state. As we have opposed anti-people laws like CAA, the Centre has rejected our tableau proposal” adding that the “cheap politics” of the BJP won’t deter them from opposing its policies.
He also said that the rejection was an insult to the people of West Bengal and that they would give a befitting reply to the Centre in the future.
West Bengal President Dilip Ghosh responded to the allegations saying, “The state government has not followed the rules. Other states have followed them, so their tableau proposals were accepted. The TMC should stop doing politics on each and every issue.”
The Ministry of Defence invites proposals from all states, union territories, central ministries and departments and this year it had received 32 tableau proposals from states and UTs and 24 from central ministries and departments.
Out of the 32, 16 proposals from states and UTs were selected and 6 from the ministries had been shortlisted for participation in the parade after a series of five meetings.
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