Bengal to observe ‘Ayushman Divas’ on Aug 16, replacing TMC’s ‘Khela Hobey Divas’: CM

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced that his government will observe August 16 as ‘Ayushman Divas’ to commemorate the Central Government’s public health insurance scheme, breaking tradition with the erstwhile TMC government’s ‘Khela Hobey Divas’.

The day will also mark the completion of 100 days of the CM Adhikari-led BJP Government in the State, which displaced Mamata Banerjee’s TMC dispensation after registering a triumphant 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,” CM Adhikari told reporters after a BJP special organisational meeting in Tamluk in Purba Medinipur district.

CM 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’ using general strikes and economic shutdown to press its demand for Pakistan after the British exit from India.

What started as political mobilisation had quickly descended into one of the worst episodes of communal violence in British India and was called the ‘Great Calcutta killings’, with Muslim and Hindu 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 then Chief Minister of the undivided Bengal Province of British India.

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 term came to be associated with violent confrontations amid 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. Mr. 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 get the benefits of the scheme. And the remaining, who are eligible to receive the benefits of the scheme, will also be included in it. That will cover about 70% of the beneficiaries. The remaining 30% will be brought under the CM Health Insurance scheme, both of which will be introduced together,” he said.

Responding to a question on allegations of non-receipt of the Annapurna Yojna direct cash transfer benefit scheme for women in the State, which replaced the previous Lakshmir Bhandar scheme of the TMC government, by a section of beneficiaries, Mr. Adhikari maintained that every central scheme implemented in the State came with a set of rules and only those eligible were included as beneficiaries.

“Money under Annapurna scheme has been transferred to over 1.2 crore women, which translates to an average 35,000 to 40,000 beneficiaries in each constituency. The verification process will continue till August 30 and all those who are found eligible will be included and those who are non-deserving will be dropped,” he said.

Asked about the BJP’s prospects in the upcoming Nandigram bypoll, Mr. Adhikari said that for local-level elections, both the Mamata Banerjee camp and the rebel group led by Ritabrata “are in the 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.