'Amar Sonar Bangla' At Assam Congress Event Ignites Political Row; BJP, Congress Trade Barbs

A major controversy has unfolded in Assam after Bangladesh's national anthem 'Amar Sonar Bangla' was sung at the Congress party meeting in Karimganj district. The ruling BJP has come down heavily on the grand old party, accusing it of creating a 'Greater Bangladesh' vote bank agenda.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma called the incident 'blatant disrespect' of the people of India. He directed the state police to register a case over the incident.

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla also slammed Congress, accusing it of "officially supporting Bangladeshi infiltrators".

He said, "The Congress is showing support to Bangladesh at a time when that country talks about dividing India. This has become a premeditated enterprise of the Congress and the Opposition,” Poonawalla said, referring to controversial remarks made by Congress leaders Sam Pitroda, Priyank Kharge and others. He added, “On one side, the Congress disrespects Assam and supports Bangladeshi infiltrators. On the other side, when our government detects, deletes and deports illegal immigrants, the Congress divides, distorts and defends them."

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Defending the act, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said that the anthem was composed by Rabindranath Tagore and reflects the sentiment of Bengali culture.

Accusing the BJP of insulting the Bengali language, he said, "The BJP has always insulted the Bengali language, Bengali culture and the people of Bengal. Their IT Cell has also insulted people of Bengal in the past. They have shown ignorance by not knowing the history of Rabindranath Tagore. I think the people of Bengal and Bengali-speaking people in different parts of the country have recognised that the BJP only uses them for votes".

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TMC MP Mahua Moitra also reacted to the controversy, pulling up the BJP and calling the anthem an emotion for Bengalis.

Amar Sonar Bangla song penned by Tagore in 1905 to protest Bengal’s partition by British. First 10 lines adopted as Bangladesh national anthem only in 1971. 'Amar Sonar Bangla'is an emotion for all us Bengalis."