TMC & BJP spar over ‘Tagore, Bankim at Sukanta feet’ photo
Times of India | 12 September 2025
Kolkata: Trinamool on Thursday lashed at junior Union minister Sukanta Majumdar for speaking at an event with the pictures of Rabindranath Tagore and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay allegedly placed near his feet.
Majumdar, however, rubbished the allegations.
Attacking Majumdar, TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: "We in Bengal revere Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, but BJP places them under its feet. The portraits were deliberately placed on the floor. This is the true face of BJP."
"BJP netas are so desperate to please their masters in Delhi that they have abandoned their Bengali heritage altogether.
No Modi-Shah photo-op or token cultural stunt can hide the fact that they scorn our language, mock our icons and trample on our identity," Ghosh added.
State education minister Bratya Basu said, "When a TMCP member in Malda burnt a photo of Tagore, we expelled him immediately. This is the difference between TMC and BJP. We took strict action, state govt ensured legal steps were taken, and we made it clear that Bengal would not tolerate any insult to Gurudev.
BJP, on the other hand, protects such offenders, promotes them and refuses to apologise."
Dismissing the charges as "fake propaganda", Majumdar said: "The photo being circulated by TMC is fake. The portrait of Tagore was at a distance, and I was standing much behind it. TMC has deliberately circulated the picture from another angle to mislead people."