RSS-BJP Spreading ‘Confused’ Narrative on ‘West Bengal Day’ and Emergency

The celebration of June 20 as 'West Bengal Day' is part of a planned, farcical propaganda by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). What is the truth? Here's the right historical perspective of it,

Negating the opinion of the West Bengal government, Governor C V Ananda Bose celebrated June 20 as 'West Bengal Day' with much pomp and show at the premises of the Governor's residence in Kolkata.

Earlier, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had sent a letter to the Governor, opposing such a programme. She said the reason was to prevent raking up the painful memory of the Partition in 1947. But ostensibly on directions by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Central government, more so before the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal in 2026, the Governor chose to go ahead with the event.

The apparent stakeholders were the two governments (Centre and state), with the media organising controversial debates around the issue, with none stating the real story.

The BJP, it is alleged, is interested in gaining political benefits from this issue, while the other political parties have remained silent so far.

Let's go into the historical background and reality of June 20 -- is it really 'West Bengal Day'?

After the British colonial rulers’ decision in March 1947 to transfer power to Indians, Lord Mountbatten came to India as the Viceroy. At that time, there was a coalition Interim Government in Delhi, consisting of Congress and Muslim League.

Jawaharlal Nehru was the chief of that government and Vallabbhai Patel was the home minister. Liaquat Ali of Muslim League was the finance minister. The famous lawyer of Midnapore and Muslim League leader H.S. Suhrawardy was the Chief minister (then called Prime Minister) of the Bengal provincial government, who had allegedly played a controversial role at the time of Great Calcutta Riots and the killings in 1946.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah, from the very beginning, was against dividing Bengal and Punjab. He thought if there arises the possibility of forming Pakistan, then the above said two provinces would be included in Pakistan.

It is well-known that a violent communal riot took place at Kolkata in 1946. After that, another riot took place at Noakhali of East Bengal. In these two places, mostly Muslims were killed. Following this, a riot took place in Bihar, where mostly Hindus were killed. After that, another Hindu-Muslim riot took place in Punjab.

Thereafter, Mountbatten was eager to split the two provinces -- Bengal and Punjab. Before coming to India, he placed a governmental proposal, saying that the future of a united Bengal will be decided by vote of the elected representatives of the Legislative Assembly of Bengal. Suhrawardy opposed this proposal. He was in favour of an independent Bengal.

There were huge differences between the Muslim League and Congress leadership on splitting Bengal. The only representative of Hindu Mahasabha, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, was ignored by Mountbatten. So, the BJP’s claim about the role of Hindu Mahasabha in the making of West Bengal is farcical.

Finally, according to Mountbatten's proposal, a voting process took place in the Bengal Assembly on June 20, 1947. First a sitting of the whole House took place in which the motion was, "If the home land of Bengali Hindu and Bengali Muslim remain undivided it will be a part of the Constituent assembly of Pakistan." The motion was accepted by a 120-90 vote.

Then, a second voting round took place among the members from the Muslim-dominated East Bengal. The motion was whether Bengal state would be split or not. The proposal was negated by 106-35 votes. This means that the Muslim and Hindu representatives gave a mandate against the proposal to split Bengal. Key members of Congress, Muslim League and the Communist Party were among those 106 members.

The third round of voting was held among members from the Hindu-dominated districts of West Bengal on the motion: "If Bengal state was divided the West Bengal part will remain with the Constituent assembly of India or not." The result of the motion was in favour of West Bengal by 58-21 votes. Communist leaders Jyoti Basu and Ratanlal Brahmin were among the 58 members, who voted in favour of India, as did the only member of Hindu Mahasabha, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee.

The motion of the fourth poll on the same day was, "If the country was split whether the Muslim population dominated  districts would be attached with the Constituent assembly of Pakistan or not." The result was 207-34 in favour of Pakistan.

According to the results of these four polls, how is 'West Bengal Day’ an achievement of RSS-BJP? Is Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, being the only member of Hindu Mahasabha, the sole agent of this 'achievement'?

The RSS propaganda is standing on a big lie, keeping in mind the Hindu population of our country. After the Partition, Purulia was attached with West Bengal and Purnia and Manbhum were detached from it. Therefore, how is June 20 the ‘foundation day’ of West Bengal state, as per the RSS-BJP narrative?

A similar hypocrisy is being seen in the narrative about the Internal Emergency declared by Indira Gandhi in 1975. There is no doubt that the Internal Emergency was a severe threat and challenge to our democratic set-up. It is a black chapter of our democratic system.

A mass movement under the leadership of Jayprakash Narayan and many other leaders defeated this challenge as well as the autocratic regime. Many people and leaders from various democratic parties faced State oppression, imprisonment and State-sponsored torture.

But what was the role of RSS and the former political avatar of BJP, the Jansangh? The ex-chief of RSS, Balasaheb Deoras, is reported to have assured then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi that they would not protest against the Emergency. Many references of this are in his book, 'Hindu Sangathan O Sattabadi Rajneeti'. After retirement, T.V. Rajeswar, then chief of the Intelligence Bureau, wrote in his book, 'India: The Crucial Years', that the RSS supported the Emergency and tried to build up a relationship with late Sanjay Gandhi. They also supported the notorious 20-point programme.

Many RSS cadres reportedly signed undertakings to not oppose the Government in order to be set free from jail. Balasaheb Deoras is also said to have assured Indira Gandhi that RSS would act only as a “cultural and social organisation.”

Now, here is a key question: after playing such a nefarious role, how can RSS-BJP call to observe 'Constitution Murder Day' on June 25 (the day Emergency was declared in 1975)? They announced this programme in their organ, Organiser, in the June 21 issue.

The RSS-mentored BJP government, it has been alleged, has established an ‘Undeclared Emergency’ in India through their present regime. The Constitution and democracy are in deep danger, and on many occasions, this danger surpasses that of 1975.

They (RSS-BJP) are confusing people by highlighting their fake anti-Emergency role, which is again the post-truth constructed carefully with help from a section of the crony capital-guided corporate media.

The supporters of “Emergency”, from historical records, are now pretending to have opposed it, which is a pathetic lie.

The writer is an essayist, poet and editor. He is also a mass movement organiser in West Bengal. The views are personal.