Government to declare June 20, 1947 officially as Bengal's Foundation Day: Suvendu
Telegraph | 10 May 2026
Chief minister Suvendu Adhikari announced on Saturday that his government would officially recognise June 20, 1947, as Bengal's Foundation Day.
He reopened one of the most emotive political and ideological debates surrounding the identity of Bengal within hours of taking oath as the chief minister.
Visiting the house of Syama Prasad Mookerjee shortly after the swearing-in ceremony, Adhikari credited the Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder with ensuring that a Hindu-majority part of undivided Bengal remained within India during the Partition and asserted that Bengal’s political history “cannot be altered”.
“The ideology on which the rise and eventual victory of the BJP is based is that of Syama Prasad Mookerjee. Had it not been for Syama Prasad Mookerjee, our condition would have been the same as that of minority Hindus in Bangladesh,” Adhikari said.
He added: “I will place a proposal before the Cabinet and in the Assembly to designate June 20, 1947, as West Bengal’s Foundation Day. You cannot change history.”
The statement revives the bitter and long-standing confrontation between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress over the historical and cultural identity of Bengal. While the BJP has consistently argued that June 20 marks the political birth of West Bengal within the Indian Union, Trinamool has maintained that the date symbolises the "trauma", "bloodshed" and "displacement" associated with the Partition.
On June 20, 1947, a resolution was adopted in the Bengal Legislative Assembly in favour of the partition of Bengal, paving the way for the creation of West Bengal within India and East Pakistan, which is now Bangladesh.
BJP leaders have long projected June 20, 1947, as a decisive moment that prevented the entirety of Bengal from going to Pakistan.
Adhikari reiterated that argument on Saturday while invoking the role played by Hindu legislators and nationalist leaders during the final days before Independence.
“Today we are living in an independent place only because this part of Bengal was included in India on June 20, 1947. Otherwise, things would have been entirely different. This became possible because of Syama Prasad Mookerjee,” he said.
Referring to the voting in the Bengal Assembly before the Partition, Adhikari said: “Fifty-eight Hindu members voted in favour of inclusion in India. Otherwise, we would not have been able to stand here today and we would have faced the same fate as minority Hindus living in Bangladesh.”
He also referred to Swami Pranavananda and his contribution during the turbulent years surrounding the Partition.
While Mamata Banerjee was the chief minister, the BJP had demanded official recognition of June 20 as Bengal's Foundation Day. Trinamool rejected the proposal, describing the date as a painful reminder of the Partition.
Instead, the Mamata Banerjee government backed Poila Boishakh, the first day of the Bengali calendar, as the official Foundation Day of the state, projecting it as a culturally inclusive and non-divisive symbol of Bengali identity.
In August 2023, the Bengal Assembly constituted a committee under Speaker Biman Banerjee to determine the official Bengal Day. Following deliberations, the Assembly adopted 1st Boishakh, or Poila Boishakh, as the state’s official foundation day.