Jallianwala Bagh massacre should find prominence in history books: Mamata
Kolkata: The state Legislative Assembly on Wednesday moved a resolution to commemorate the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy that took place in Amritsar in 1919 and to pay tributes to those who had laid down their lives in open firing by the British police, following the instruction of General Dyer.
On the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the House recalled the horror, the wanton cruelty and inhumanity shown by Dyer and the British government in Punjab during the colonial era. Bengal is perhaps the first state to move a resolution to pay respect to the martyrs.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said during her speech in the Assembly that Jallianwala Bagh and the other major incidents that took place during the British rule must find more prominence in the history text books. In the same breath, she accused the Narendra Modi government in the Centre of rewriting history and changing the syllabus.
Without taking their names, Banerjee launched a scathing attack on the RSS and the BJP for their attempts to destroy the social fabric and playing divisive politics. There has been a deliberate attempt to destroy the democratic structure of the country, she stated.
"Humanity is the biggest religion in our country. Political generosity is on the verge of decay. Our country had a tradition where one state used to stand by another in the time of crisis. A party has destroyed political generosity through shameless display of divisive politics," Banerjee said.
"Why was Gandhiji killed? Who were responsible for killing the man who stood for communal harmony? Those who killed Gandhiji often boast of their achievement on how they had fought for the country's freedom during the national movement. We cannot deny that Indian National Congress fought during the freedom struggle. Our history cannot be changed," she added.
The Chief Minister again raised voice against the NDA government for not holding an all-party meeting before revoking Article 370 in the Parliament. "There should have been an all-party meeting before the repealing of Article 370. The Opposition parties should have been allowed to express their opinion. People were threatened on gunpoint. We still don't know how various political leaders like Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti were kept. We express our concern for them. Even a delegation of various political party leaders was denied entry in Kashmir," Banerjee stated in the Assembly.
"Will there be one political slogan, one political leader and one election in the country? Are we heading towards a Presidential form of election?" questioned Banerjee.
She also felt the need of digitising various documents of the state government and publishing them for public reading, while delivering her speech in the Assembly.
