Kolkata: DYFI’s Brigade rally on Sunday began with Rabindranath Tagore’s 1905 ode to Bengal, ‘Banglar Mati, Banglar Jal’. The Bengal government had earlier declared this as the state song, but DYFI denied that its move had anything to do with the development.
“Rabindranath Tagore composed the song in 1905 in solidarity with the movement against the partition of Bengal.The song has an immense impact on both Bengal and Bangladesh. He started Rakhi Bandhan Utsav in the same year while singing this song. It has great historical importance,” a DYFI leader said.
“The lyrics of the song were changed as it was done with another nationalist song — ‘Karar Oi Louha Kopat’. We decided to present the correct version and mark a protest against the culture of changing songs that have national importance. We consider this as an insult to Bengal’s culture and we sang the correct version,” a DYFI leader said.