Bengal has no trend of rejecting centre's directives: state minister

Kolkata, Nov 1: Claiming there is no controversy over the celebration of Sardar Vallabhai Patel's birth anniversary in West Bengal, state Education Minister Partha Chatterjee on Wednesday said the Trinamool Congress government has "no trend" of rejecting the centre's directives.

"No, there is no such trend. There are lots of issues we have said yes to. We have said yes to things that are practicable and do not have any political intent," Chatterjee said.

The state government which earlier refused to follow the Union Human Resource Development Ministry's directives on celebrating Independence Day and Teachers Day in the state run schools, has recently asked institutes of higher education in Bengal to ignore the HRD Ministry's directive on observing Sardar Vallabhai Patel's birth anniversary on October 31.

Chatterjee said the state government is always ready to pay tribute to the national heroes but questioned the necessity of sending pictures and video recordings of such events to the central government.

"The government of West Bengal is playing tribute to our national heroes. But why should it be photographed, video graphed and sent to the central government?" he questioned.

He also said such instructions by the centre is "unbecoming of a federal structure."

The HRD ministry had issued a directive to all the higher educational institutes in the country to observe the 142nd birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in a manner specified by the government and send video recording of the events to the University Grants Commission (UGC) as part of the Centre's "Nation Salutes Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel" tribute programme.