Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, announced on Wednesday that he had given the police orders to prosecute a state Congress politician for singing Rabindranath Tagore's Amar Sonar Bangla song part of which is also Bangladesh's national anthem during a party gathering.
According to PTI, the chief minister gave the police instructions to file a treason case.
During the British Partition of Bengal in 1905, Tagore wrote the hymn Amar Sonar Bangla, which means "my golden Bengal." In 1971, Bangladesh adopted the song's first ten verses as its national anthem.
A video of Congress leader Bidhu Bhushan Das singing a few lines of Amar Sonar Bangla during the party's Seva Dal gathering in Sribhumi district earlier this week was posted on social media by the Bharatiya Janata Party earlier on Wednesday.
Assam Congress chairman Gaurav Gogoi was also featured in the BJP film as saying that Tagore's song had given the Bengali people "the courage to rise against the British."
The Assam BJP responded on social media by claiming that Gogoi was "shamelessly" defending the song's recitation. The Hindutva party declared, "Calling it shameful would be too mild; it's downright pathetic and disgraceful."
Sarma said on Wednesday that the national anthem of Bangladesh had been performed "in place of the national anthem of India" by the "district Congress committee of Sribhumi."
"This is a flagrant disrespect to the Indian people and the national anthem, and it aligns with the recent assertion made by several prominent Bangladeshi citizens that the North East will eventually become a part of India," Sarma stated.
The chief minister stated, "We see that the Congress district committee's recitation of the national anthem is somehow an endorsement of the claim of various Bangladeshi people and organ of the government that North East is their part and parcel."
He further stated that he has given the Assam Police instructions to file a complaint and take appropriate action against the Congress district committee in Sribhumi.
Gogoi told reporters after the controversy that the BJP "has always insulted the Bengali language, Bengali culture, and the people of Bengal" and that the song "conveys the sentiments of Bengali culture."
The Congress leader stated, "Their IT cell has also insulted people of Bengal in the past." By being unaware of Rabindranath Tagore's past, they have demonstrated ignorance. I believe Bengalis and those who speak Bengali in other regions of the nation have realized that the BJP is merely using them to win votes.
According to Mahua Moitra, a member of the Trinamool Congress, the song "is an emotion for all" Bengalis. "Saffron Chaddis and their paid troll media will never get it," she posted on social media.
