Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced that his government will observe August 16 as 'Ayushman Divas' to commemorate the Union government's public health insurance scheme, breaking with the erstwhile TMC government's 'Khela Hobey Divas'.
The day will also mark the completion of 100 days of the Adhikari-led BJP government in the state, which displaced Mamata Banerjee's TMC dispensation after registering a decisive victory in the Assembly polls.
"August 16 is a black day in Kolkata's history since the 'Great Calcutta Killings' were orchestrated under the leadership of Suhrawardy from this date. The previous TMC government observed it as 'Khela Hobey Divas'. Our government has decided that the day will be observed as Ayushman Divas. The details of our programme will soon follow," Adhikari told reporters after a BJP special organisational meeting in Tamluk in Purba Medinipur district.
Adhikari was referring to the All India Muslim League-sponsored Direct Action Day of August 16, 1946, on which the party had decided to take 'direct action' through general strikes and economic shutdowns to press its demand for Pakistan after the British exit from India.
What started as political mobilisation quickly descended into one of the worst episodes of communal violence in British India, known as the 'Great Calcutta Killings', with Hindu and Muslim mobs clashing across the city for several days.
By the time order was restored, an estimated 4,000 people had been killed and more than 10,000 injured, while tens of thousands were displaced. The bloodshed deepened communal divisions and is widely regarded as a turning point that hastened the Partition of India the following year.
Muslim League leader Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was the chief minister of the undivided Bengal province of British India at the time.
In more recent times, former chief minister Mamata Banerjee declared August 16 as 'Khela Hobey Divas' in 2021 to commemorate the Trinamool Congress's victory in the Assembly elections and to promote sports among young people, although the observance came to be linked with violent confrontations in the state's charged political atmosphere.
The observance featured football matches and the distribution of sports equipment across the state, with Banerjee presenting it as an initiative to encourage grassroots sporting talent and youth participation.
Adhikari said the government will unveil the details of 'Ayushman Divas' on August 16.
"Citizens who have crossed the age of 70 are automatically entitled to receive the benefits of the scheme. The remaining eligible beneficiaries will also be included. That will cover about 70 per cent of the beneficiaries. The remaining 30 per cent will be brought under the CM Health Insurance Scheme, with both schemes being introduced together," he said.
Responding to a question on allegations that a section of beneficiaries had not received benefits under the Annapurna Yojana direct cash transfer scheme for women, which replaced the previous TMC government's Lakshmir Bhandar scheme, Adhikari maintained that every Union government scheme implemented in the state came with a set of rules and only those eligible were included as beneficiaries.
"Money under the Annapurna scheme has been transferred to over 1.2 crore women, which translates to an average of 35,000 to 40,000 beneficiaries in each constituency. The verification process will continue till August 30, and all those found eligible will be included, while those who are ineligible will be dropped," he said.
Asked about the BJP's prospects in the upcoming Nandigram bypoll, Adhikari said that, for the local-level elections, both the Mamata Banerjee camp and the rebel group led by Ritabrata "are in doldrums and they will not find enough people to fight the elections".
"There can be no doubt about our victory in Nandigram. I won the polls there by a margin of nearly 9,700 votes, five times the margin I had secured in 2021," he asserted.