On Friday (May 5), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee resorted to fear-mongering over rumours about the Central government removing chapters on ‘Mughals’ from history textbooks. However, while objecting to rumoured deletion of chapters on Mughals from NCERT textbooks, she went on to mention several historical figures like MK Gandhi, Tagore, Ambedkar etc.
During a programme in Shamsherganj in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal, she said, “If Centre wants to erase history, then, fighting is my Dharma.” OpIndia had earlier reported how the mainstream media speculated that NCERT removed certain chapters on the Mughal empire from the 12th-class history book.
“Can I forget Mahatma Gandhi, Vivekananda, Raghunath Murmu, Abul Kalam Azad, Ambedkar, Rabindranath, Nazrul? Remember history is always preserved in books,” Mamata Banerjee inquired despite no reports about the Union government trying to remove these historical personalities from textbooks.
While Mamata Banerjee was talking about the alleged removal of chapters on Mughals from school textbooks, she mentioned several other personalities, who have nothing to do with Mughals, and they were born long after the demise of the Mughal dynasty. Moreover, no chapter on these personalities has been removed from these persons, but the Bengal CM tried to imply that the govt has removed the freedom fighters and other noted personalities from the books.
“They tried to divide Hindus and Muslims in 1905. Could they do it? No. Rabindranath Tagore organised Rakashabandhan between Hindus and Muslims,” the West Bengal CM said while conveniently forgetting about the Partition of India in 1947, which also divided Bengal.
It is notable that British Raj had divided the Bengal Presidency into two parts, Muslim-majority East Bengal including Assam and Hindu-majority West Bengal including Bihar and Odisha. But due to huge protests against the partition, Bengal was reunited in 1911. However, when India was partitioned into India and Pakistan, Bengal was partitioned again.
She also claimed that Mahatma Gandhi sang the ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’ song at the time of Independence in Kolkata, which is actually a distorted version to include a reference to Allah. Ahead of the Panchayat elections in the State, Mamata Banerjee hoped to reignite the rumour around the removal of Indian history from public memory.
It must be mentioned that the Director of NCERT, Dinesh Prasad Saklani, had earlier refuted the allegations that were being spread by various news outlets. He informed that chapters on the Mughals had not been removed. Only the overlapping chapters had been dropped to alleviate additional strain on children.
Mamata Banerjee blames the Centre for environmental damage
During the programme, the West Bengal CM also blamed the Central government for not preventing soil erosion and flooding in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal.
“If the Centre used the time devoted to political conspiracies, rioting, harassment, rumour mongering for the environment, then, Bengal would have flourished,” she brazened it out.
“This is a subject of the Central government…We have raised the matter with them but they did not help us… Controlling floods is the responsibility of the Central govt,” Mamata Banerjee said.
West Bengal CM accuses Modi govt of killing people, withholding funds
“BJP has two jobs – One is them is to kill people (Thok Do),” she alleged. Mamaya Banerjee also accused the Centre of withholding funds for MNREGA without informing her supporters about the circumstances leading to the decision.
It must be mentioned that the Central govt had invoked Section 27 of the MNREGA Act over the misappropriation of Central govt funds and other irregularities. “If I am lying, then, you tell me. I don’t lie often… I mean I don’t lie at all.” Mamata Banerjee claimed.
She then alleged that the Central government has told her that it will not give funds to West Bengal because it supposedly fights the ruling Trinamool Congress govt in the State.
The West Bengal claimed that CBI officers are supposedly instructed to malign the image of TMC leaders after supposedly finding no evidence of complicity. “Raam ka naam badnam maat karo, Desh ke naam badnam maat karo, agencies se Kuch kaam nahin hona vala,” Banerjee was heard saying.
