Modi Highlights Historical Significance of Paschimbanga Divas and Syama Prasad Mookerjee's Role

PTI, June 20, 2026, Tarakeswar: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday invoked Bengal's Partition-era history and the legacy of Syama Prasad Mookerjee to assert June 20 was a defining moment that ensured West Bengal remained within India.

Modi alleged that attempts were made to include the entire undivided Bengal in Pakistan during Partition.

Addressing a programme to mark the ‘Paschimbanga Divas’ after inaugurating and laying the foundation stones for development projects in Tarakeswar, the PM sought to blend history with contemporary politics, portraying the state's recent political change as a continuation of the aspirations that “shaped the creation of West Bengal” in 1947.

Launching a sharp attack on the Congress, Modi alleged that it had "bowed before conspiratorial forces" during Partition, and later sought to erase the history and significance of ‘Paschimbanga Divas’, claiming Bengal's past had been "whitewashed" for political reasons.

"We need to repeatedly highlight the importance of ‘Paschimbanga Divas’. It is important for the younger generation to know what was happening during that period," he said.

Describing June 20 as a defining moment in Bengal's history, Modi said the observance was about recalling "an entire chapter of history" rather than merely marking a date on the calendar.

On June 20, 1947, legislators from the Hindu-majority districts of undivided Bengal voted in favour of Partition and for joining the Indian Union, a development that eventually paved the way for the creation of West Bengal.

Paying tributes to Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee, who was with the Hindu Mahasabha during the Partition years, Modi credited him with spearheading the Bengali Hindu Homeland movement that opposed proposals for including the whole of Bengal in Pakistan during Partition.

"When efforts were being made to make the whole of Bengal a part of Pakistan, Congress had bowed before conspiratorial forces. It was then that Syama Prasad Mookerjee raised his voice against it," he said.

The Prime Minister said that Mookerjee, along with several eminent personalities, mobilised public opinion and led a movement that culminated in the creation of West Bengal.

"When there was a conspiracy to separate the whole of Bengal from India, a separate West Bengal was created to thwart those designs," he said.

Modi said the state remaining within India was crucial for preserving Bengal's civilisational and cultural heritage.

"The civilisation and culture that are thousands of years old, along with the region's core faith and traditions, are preserved today in the form of West Bengal because those attempts were defeated," he said.

Recalling the trauma of Partition, Modi said Bengal had paid a heavy price with bloodshed and displacement, but succeeded in preserving its identity.

"Bengal witnessed Partition. It saw its motherland being divided. Yet, Bengal did not allow its cultural identity and heritage to be destroyed," the PM said.

The remarks came amid a renewed political focus on June 20, a date that has increasingly become a point of argument in Bengal's political discourse, with the BJP projecting it as a landmark in the state's history and a tribute to Mookerjee's role in preserving Bengal's place within India.

Modi also alleged that the significance of the movement leading to the creation of West Bengal had been deliberately downplayed over the decades for political reasons.

"The same spirit with which West Bengal was saved should have been used to take it forward. But, the opposite happened. Attempts were made to erase the history and significance of ‘Paschimbanga Divas’ and the spirit behind it. Because of political agendas, history was whitewashed," he said.

Launching a broadside against the Congress, the prime minister asserted that the party abandoned Bengal during Partition and later pursued appeasement politics.

"The Congress, which was willing to abandon Bengal during Partition like an orphan, went on to play politics of appeasement in West Bengal after Partition. Bengal's history was suppressed," he said.

He also claimed that Mookerjee's contributions were ignored because of ideological considerations.

"Syama Prasad Mookerjee became the founder of the Jana Sangh, so his contributions were denied. Efforts were made to eliminate the very ideology for which he had fought for Bengal," Modi said.

Without naming any party, the PM criticised successive governments in the state.

"First the Congress, then Left, then TMC – for decades, instead of preserving and nurturing West Bengal, it was allowed to become a hub for illegal infiltrators," he alleged.

Seeking to draw a link between the BJP government's present agenda and what he described as the original vision behind the creation of West Bengal, Modi said this year's ‘Paschimbanga Divas’ carried added significance in the backdrop of the recent political change in the state.