KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for addressing Bankim Chandra Chatterjee as ‘Bankim Da’. Addressing a rally in Cooch Behar, Mamata warned the people of West Bengal against electing the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state elections next year, claiming it will destroy Bengal’s culture.
“The PM must apologise for ‘insulting’ Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay by calling him ‘Bankim da’ in Lok Sabha,” the Trinamool Congress supremo said, referring to the PM’s remarks during the debate in Lok Sabha yesterday on 150 years of Vande Mataram.
While initiating the discussion on the 150th anniversary of the national song in Lok Sabha yesterday, PM Modi referred to the song’s composer and iconic Bengali writer Bankim Chandra Chatterjee as “Bankim da”.
Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy had immediately raised objection to this, stating that the “Da” reference was too informal for a cultural figure of Bankim Chandra’s stature.
Da, short for Dada, is commonly used by Bengalis to refer to peers or older brothers.
“You are saying ‘Bankim Da’? You should say ‘Bankim Babu’,” Roy told the PM in the Lower House.
Vande Mataram turns 150: History, symbolism, and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s inspiration behind it
Promptly accepting Roy’s suggestion, PM Modi stated, “I will say Bankim Babu. Thank you, I respect your sentiments.”
The PM then continued his address on ‘Vande Mataram’, highlighting the song’s role during India’s freedom struggle.
Meanwhile, Mamata today referred to the PM’s remark and said his party, the BJP, will “destroy Bengal’s culture, language, and heritage if it comes to power here”.
She further accused the ruling party at the Centre of purchasing votes. “We don’t buy votes before elections like the BJP,” the West Bengal CM was quoted as saying at the rally by a news agency.
The TMC chief also raised the ongoing SIR issue and claimed that as soon as the final voter list is published after the completion of the SIR exercise in February next year, the dates for the Bengal polls will be declared.
The dates will be announced soon after in order to ensure that the final electoral rolls are not challenged in courts, she alleged.
Agencies