Calcutta, June 28: From an icon of industrialisation to “worst enemy” of mass movements, Bidhan Chandra Roy has been pushed off the CPM pedestal in five days.

Waxing eloquent on the longest-serving Congress chief minister, CPM state secretary Biman Bose had said on Saturday that July 1, Roy’s birth anniversary, would be celebrated as Peace Day.

Today, Bose’s party colleague, Benoy Konar, asked: “Why should we observe Bidhan Roy’s birthday? It is a coincidence that we have decided to observe Peace Day on July 1, which is his birthday.”

Konar is officiating as state secretary in the absence of Bose, who is in the US.

“There is no question of dishonouring him. Those who want to observe his birthday can do so. But for us, he was the worst enemy of mass movements during his tenure,” Konar said, referring to police atrocities against the Left-led food movement and other agitations between 1949 and 1962.

“We don’t think there was an avalanche of industries in his era though he tried to set up new units... in Durgapur, Kalyani and made room for the Haldia port,” he added.

Less than a week ago, Bose had hailed Roy’s “genuine efforts towards development”.

He had made it clear that the move to mark Roy’s birth anniversary was to secure “peace for industry”, probably a euphemism for the truce the CPM is desperately seeking with the Trinamul Congress and the Congress over Nandigram and Singur.

While the “tactical move” was aimed at taking the steam out of the Opposition’s resistance to land acquisition, the CPM’s about-turn was apparently triggered by the flak it faced from allies and its own ranks. “The Left parties have fought against Roy. How can we observe his birthday, considering him a role model?” Forward Bloc veteran Asoke Ghosh had said yesterday.

CPM MP Asoke Mitra lambasted the “politics of short-time convenience” and said the party leadership could not rewrite history by eulogising Roy as a pioneer of industrialisation.