She said there was a deliberate attempt by the state government to blind the youths by erecting huge buildings and shopping malls so that they remain ignorant of the glorious past.
“We even lost the Nobel Prize awarded to Rabindranath Tagore and now the government has got a replica,” she said. Mamata further said that though the past has not been preserved, the government has been very lenient in distributing liquor licences all over the state.
“We are definitely not against globalisation, but not at the cost of the lives of poor farmers. How can the state government talk of globalisation when it has totally failed to generate jobs for the youths over the last 32 years?” asked the Trinamool supremo.
“If any of the revolutionaries were here today to witness the state of affairs they would be extremely hurt,” she added.
Others, including artist Suvaprasanna and theatre personality Bhibhas Chakraborty, insisted that the state government had not taken any initiative to inculcate feelings of respect for the revolutionaries among the students and youths of West Bengal. Also present on the occasion were SUCI leaders Manik Mukherjee and Pravash Ghosh.
On Monday, the death centenary celebrations were marred by controversies. Two organisations — the CPM’s students’ and youth wings — had organised the programme at the statue of Bose near the High Court.
Giant flags, posters and banners were put up by the two Marxist units at the spot, where over 10,000 students had gathered. When Congress leader Subrata Mukherjee and Youth Congress secretary Amitava Chakrabarty reached to pay their homage, the marked absence of the national flag made them furious. They ordered that the SFI and DYFI flags be removed and the Tricolour hoisted.