Kolkata, June 20, 2026
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in West Bengal on Saturday afternoon to a packed schedule till Sunday.
As per the schedule provided by the West Bengal unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Prime Minister will arrive at the Kalaikunda airbase of the Indian Air Force (IAF) at 2.30 P.M. on Saturday.
From Kalaikunda, he will leave by a special helicopter for Tarakeswar in Hooghly district, where he will be attending a programme of the West Bengal government on the occasion of the ‘West Bengal Foundation Day’.
Since the new BJP government under the leadership of the ninth West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari took charge, it was decided that June 20 would henceforth be celebrated as the ‘West Bengal Foundation Day.’
The previous Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government used to celebrate ‘Polia Boishakh (Bengali New Year Day)’ as the Bengal Foundation Day, and hence there was no fixed day as per the English calendar for celebrating it.
Now the new government has announced that June 20 will be celebrated as Bengal Foundation Day, considering its historical relevance.
On that day in 1947, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh founder Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee moved a proposal in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly to partition the province, integrating West Bengal into India.
While Mamata Banerjee opposed celebrating Bengal Foundation Day on June 20 because of the pain of several people impacted by the partition, the BJP argued that the foundation day of a state should be linked to the historical relevance associated with that day.
From the event at Tarakeswar, the Prime Minister is also scheduled to announce some crucial projects for West Bengal.
From Tarakeswar, the Prime Minister will arrive at Kolkata again by the special helicopter. After spending the night at Lok Bhavan (previously Raj Bhavan) in Kolkata, on Sunday morning, he will attend a function at Red Road in central Kolkata on the occasion of the International Yoga Day.
He will participate in the programmes at Red Road from 6.30 A.M. to 7.50 A.M.
Thereafter, the Prime Minister will return to Lok Bhavan from Red Road and then go to Garden Reach on the southern outskirts of Kolkata where he will formally inaugurate three Indian-built naval ships.
After completing the Garden Reach event, he will reach Kolkata Airport directly by helicopter. After that, the Prime Minister will leave for Delhi by a special flight from Kolkata Airport.(Agency)
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