By IANS,
Kolkata : Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee unfurled the tri-colour and took the salute as West Bengal celebrated the 63rd Independence Day Saturday.
Bhattacharjee also offered floral tribute at the martyrs’ column as the police band played the national anthem at the rain-drenched function near the state secretariat.
National Cadet Corps volunteers and Rapid Action Force personnel gave a guard of honour to the chief minister before the programme ended with a cultural presentation by a choir group.
Later, Bhattacharjee garlanded the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in the hub of the city.
Another function was held at Gandhighat in Barrackpore, about 25 km from here where Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi took part in a prayer meeting and offered flowers at the Mahatma Gandhi memorial column.
The governor, a grandson of the Father of the Nation, sat through the function listening to the rendering of ‘ramdhun’.
As in earlier years, Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee raised the national flag at a midnight function near the busy Hazra crossing of south Kolkata. Hundreds of enthusiastic party activists sang patriotic songs.
The national flag was also unfurled in every major town across the state.