JOIN USLeaders are for everyone, must lead people of all caste, creed, religion: Mamata
West Bengal Chief Minister came down hard on political leaders, the "attempts" to rewrite the country’s history, as well as their "non-inclusive and myopic" political ideologies.
“What are netas (leaders) like? Which neta is considered a good one? One who leads the country! A neta must lead the people, must lead all castes, creeds, and (people of all) religions,” Banerjee said, while addressing guests at the inauguration of Alipore Museum, the erstwhile Alipore Central Correctional Home (read jail), in Kolkata.
Giving a rousing speech, Banerjee asked the crowd if it wasn’t “our responsibility to pay tribute” and “remember those leaders who committed themselves to the nation.”
“Leaders could have differing ideologies, but when it comes to offering respect to them, there couldn’t be two thoughts, and leaders are for everyone,” she said.
Referring to the freedom struggle, Banerjee also pointed out the "attempts" at reinterpreting and rewriting the nation’s history.
“We are having to think, afresh… why? Why is the new concept coming? Why is the new mission? What is the concept? (It is) to change the real world, to change historical incidents, to change the geography, the history, the science, everything, for a political purpose,” Banerjee said, adding that this is being done so that the new generation may not know the “truth” about the country, and the freedom struggle.
“That’s why the need of the hour, the need of the day, is to preserve history,” she said.
Alipore Museum, which was Alipore Central jail before Independence, was the place where Subhas Chandra Bose, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Aurobindo Ghose, other freedom fighters, and martyrs, had been confined by the British at different points in time.
It has now been transformed into a museum with preserved cells, an interpretation centre, gallows, exhibition, souvenir and coffee shop, library and seminar hall, and a light and sound show.