BJP minister should apologise for disrespect to Tagore, Bankim: TMC
The Statesman | 13 September 2025Bratya Basu, state education minister, said: “The BJP has failed to understand the nationalism written by Bankimchandra and the internationalism of Tagore. The national anthem and the national song were written by Tagore and Bakim Chandra,” he said, adding, “The BJP has wrongly said the Trinamul Congress is trying to get political mileage by raising the issue of the Bengali-speaking migrant workers who have been attacked and harassed in different states. It is the issue that has not only affected the Bengali-speaking people but also those who are residents of Bengal but whose mother tongue is not Bengali.”
Kunal Ghosh, a spokesperson of Trinamul Congress, said, “The BJP is genetically against Bengal. It is anti-Bengal, anti-Bengali. It does not understand Bengal’s culture and legacy.”
Coming down heavily on the saffron party, the leaders said it is most unfortunate that the chief minister of Delhi has asked all the Puja committees to put up the photograph of Narendra Modi in the pandals. “West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has given Rs 1.10 lakh to 40,000 community puja committees, but never the organisers of those committees have been asked to put up Miss Banerjee’s photos. Durga Puja has fetched the Intangible Cultural Heritage tag from the UNESCO. “It is the BJP, who had asked the residents of Chittaranjan Park, who stay near the Kali temple at K-block not to eat non-veg food. We have people from every community and religion in Bengal but we never try to dictate them about their food habits. We also never attack and humiliate the migrant workers from other states who work in Bengal.”TMC
