Author: Express News Service
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: January 9, 2004
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=38867
The Marxists in Bengal, it seems,
are ready to make amends. To start with, their quest for a national icon
is settling down on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, raising eyebrows within
and outside the party.
Come January 23 and the state government
will be party to a celebration to mark Netaji's birth anniversary. ''We
need a powerful symbol to combat the communal forces ... And who could
be a better hero than Netaji,'' says Transport and Sports Minister Subhas
Chakraborty. He said 10,000 men will leave on motorcycles from Dhaka, Cuttack
and Kurseong on January 21 and reach Kolkata on Netaji's birthday. They
will be welcomed by CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. ''He was a symbol of a relentless
war against imperialism. We have to remember him in the time of crisis
we're passing through,'' says LF chairman Biman Basu.
[Note from Hindu Vivek Kendra:
These Marxists do not seem to even come close to comprehending the irony.
All these years they have been denigrating Netaji, and even called him
a Japanese dog. Now they want to tag the anti-communal and anti-imperialism
label to him. Does this not mean that the Marxists were communal
and imperialist all these years? Incidentally, Netaji has always been one
of the pantheons of the heroes adopted by the RSS.]
