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Addressing an event commemorating Syama Prasad Mookerjee at Muralidhar Sen Lane on Monday, Bhattacharya had said: “Syama Prasad Mookerjee was delivering a speech at Mohammad Ali Park when Forward Bloc goons pelted stones at him, leaving him bleeding. Had Mookerjee made any statement to incite the crowd, Forward Bloc members wouldn’t have survived that day. Instead, he pacified the crowd while bleeding and urged people to give a befitting reply through the ballot.”
Kolkata: The All India Forward Bloc on Tuesday hit back at Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya for calling its members “goons,” asserting that ideological opposition should not be labelled as hooliganism.
The party urged Bhattacharya to exercise restraint. Author Chandrachur Ghose, who has written several books on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, also criticised Bhattacharya’s remarks.Addressing an event commemorating Syama Prasad Mookerjee at Muralidhar Sen Lane on Monday, Bhattacharya had said: “Syama Prasad Mookerjee was delivering a speech at Mohammad Ali Park when Forward Bloc goons pelted stones at him, leaving him bleeding.
Had Mookerjee made any statement to incite the crowd, Forward Bloc members wouldn’t have survived that day. Instead, he pacified the crowd while bleeding and urged people to give a befitting reply through the ballot.
”The remarks drew sharp criticism from the Forward Bloc, which countered that there are “no goons in the party.” In a Facebook post, the party stated: “We have workers who follow Netaji and want to build a nation of his dreams.”
Speaking on the phone, Forward Bloc national general secretary G Devarajan termed it a “historically distorted statement.”“It is a historical fact that during the 1940 Calcutta Municipal Corporation election, Syama Prasad tried to mobilise support by appealing to communal sentiments. He tried to divide the people of Bengal on communal lines, and the Forward Bloc resisted that attempt. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose repeatedly warned Syama Prasad against making statements that could inflame communal passions,” Devarajan said, demanding that Bhattacharya review and retract his statement.Author Chandrachur Ghose also slammed Bhattacharya, advising BJP workers to show restraint. In a Facebook comment, Ghose wrote: “Were the likes of Narendranarayan Chakraborty and Hemanta Basu goons? Did Subhas Chandra Bose encourage goons? Had Mookerjee been that popular, the Hindu Mahasabha would have won every seat in the municipal election. Syama Prasad himself quit the Hindu Mahasabha in 1948.”
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