Recitation of two lines of Tagore’s iconic poem ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’, which went on to become Bangladesh’s national anthem, during a meeting of the Congress in Assam’s Sribhumi district has snowballed into a political controversy with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma directing police action in the matter and the Congress accusing the ruling BJP of ignorance and insulting Bengali culture.
On Wednesday, Sarma said he has instructed police to take action
against the district Congress committee.
Earlier in the day, BJP’s Assam unit criticised the Congress, pointing to a video of Vidhu Bhushan Das, a senior citizen member of the party, singing two lines of ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’ (My Golden Bengal) in a Sribhumi District Congress Seva Dal meeting earlier this week.
CM Sarma referred to the recitation as “disrespect to India”.
“Two days ago, the district Congress committee of Sribhumi performed the national anthem of Bangladesh in place of the national anthem of India. This is a blatant disrespect to the people of India, the national anthem and is in line with the new claim of various leading citizens of Bangladesh that eventually, Northeast will become its part,” Sarma said after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
“The recitation of national anthem by the Congress district committee is somehow an endorsement of the claim of various Bangladeshi people that Northeast is their part and parcel. I have instructed Assam police to register a case against the district Congress committee of Sribhumi and take action as per the law,” he added.
In response, Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi called the BJP’s response to the recitation “ignorance” about Tagore as well as “Bengali sentiments and culture.”
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He said, “It is a song composed by Rabindranath Tagore – a song which conveys the sentiments of Bengali culture. The BJP has always insulted the Bengali language, Bengali culture, the people of Bengal. They have shown their ignorance and that they do not know the history of Rabindranath Tagore and his philosophy. I think the people of Bengal and Bengali-speaking people in different parts of India have realised that the BJP only uses them for votes but doesn’t care to understand their culture, language and sentiments.”
The song was written by Tagore in response to the Partition of Bengal in 1905. It was later adopted by Bangladesh as its national anthem.
Sribhumi district is located in Assam’s largely Bengali-speaking Barak Valley, borders Bangladesh and was significantly impacted by the 1947 Partition.
