West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed PM Narendra Modi over his ‘casual’ remark while mentioning Saint Bankim Chandra Chatterjee during the 150th commemoration ceremony at Lok Sabha.
“He (PM Modi) called Bankim Chandra Chatterjee 'Bankimda'. It seems like Shyamda, Harida. Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, who composed the national song, did not give this little respect! You should bow your head and give a nod to the people. Even that will not be forgiven. You have disrespected the country's culture and history,” Mamata Banerjee said while addressing a public meeting in Coochbehar district. Continuing her sharp criticism, CM Banerjee continued, “"He had also disrespected Raja Rammohan Roy saying that he was not a patriot. He had called Khudiram Bose a terrorist. He has demolished Vidyasagar’s statue."
This comes a day after PM Modi opened the discussion to mark 150th anniversary of the national song Vande Mataram and ran into a confusion regarding the addressal of the legendary composer and freedom fighter Bankim Chandra Chattopadhayay. He ‘casually’ referred the stalwart as “Bankim da”, which was immediately objected by TMC MP Sougata Roy. Roy corrected the PM saying that ‘da’ is a short form of ‘dada’ and is generally used to refer to brother, friends and acquaintances and not someone of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhayay’s stature.
TMC MP from Barasat Kakali Ghosh Dastidar too tore into the reference as “informal and casual” as she kicked off debate from her party’s end at the Lok Sabha on Monday. “Today, PM Narendra Modi casually referred to ‘Rishi’ Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay as ‘Bankim Da,’ as though speaking informally with the great author at a neighbourhood tea stall. Bengalis will not accept such trivializing of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, just as they refused to tolerate the insult to Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar when his bust was desecrated,” Dr. Dastidar added.
Later, Mahua Moitra, TMC MP from Krishanagar Lok Sabha constituency also offered a paragraph-by-paragraph explanation of the poem Vande Mataram, adding that the union government could have made better allotment of the time by raising more pressing issues at the Parliament. “We are living in an India, where real unemployment exceeds 20 percent, that we are choking in the national Capital, where the Air Quality Index routine-levels are over-800, when the Centre is purposefully starving the non-BJP states of MNREGA, housing, and water scheme funds, where millions face hurried and arbitrary mass disenfranchisement, and where the Opposition is bullied for raising pressing national issues,” TMC MP Moitra said. She added, “Suddenly, the government finds it so important, so urgent to discuss the historical complexities of a song.”
The ‘dada –babu’ fiasco was a part of a 10-hour long debate organised on the 150th anniversary of ‘Vande Mataram’ to reiterate and highlight the legacy and significance of the India’s freedom movement.
