Amra Bangali slammed the Assam government for branding Rabindranath Tagore’s song “Amar Sonar Bangla” as sedition, calling it an insult to Bengali identity and India’s cultural heritage. The party accused BJP of promoting an anti-Bengali and divisive political agenda.
In a strong political rebuke, the regional party Amra Bangali has condemned the Assam government for labeling the singing of Rabindranath Tagore’s “Amar Sonar Bangla” as an act of sedition. The organization described the move as a “deeply insulting attack” on the Bengali language, culture, and the legacy of India’s only Nobel laureate in literature.
During a press conference held at the party’s state office, State Secretary Gouranga Rudrapal, along with Publicity Secretary Dulal Ghosh, Seemanti Deb, Ashok Kumar Das, and Samar Debnath, sharply criticized the BJP-led Assam government. They accused it of nurturing an “anti-Bengali attitude” and promoting policies that demean Bengali identity and the pluralistic spirit of India.
The Controversy over ‘Amar Sonar Bangla’
The uproar began when Bidhu Bhushan Das, a Bengali resident of Karimganj, Assam, sang “Amar Sonar Bangla Ami Tomay Bhalobashi” — a patriotic composition by Rabindranath Tagore — during a local political gathering. Reports claim that the Assam Chief Minister branded the act as “anti-national,” arguing that the song is the national anthem of Bangladesh and therefore its public rendition in India could be treated as sedition.
Amra Bangali leaders dismissed the claim as “historically and culturally illiterate.” They reminded that Tagore wrote the song in 1905, during the anti-partition movement of Bengal, as an anthem of unity against British imperialism — decades before Bangladesh even existed.
“Calling Tagore’s song anti-national is an insult to India’s own cultural heritage,” said Rudrapal. “It is shameful that a piece of literature written to inspire unity among Indians is now being criminalized under a narrow political lens.”
The party further highlighted that both India and Bangladesh’s national anthems — “Jana Gana Mana” and “Amar Sonar Bangla” — were written by the same poet, symbolizing the shared cultural roots of the subcontinent.
Allegations of Anti-Bengali Bias
The Amra Bangali leadership accused the BJP and its ideological parent organization, the RSS, of promoting a “Hindu–Hindi–Hindustan” agenda that sidelines regional languages and minority cultures. They pointed to the removal of Tagore’s works from NCERT textbooks during curriculum revisions allegedly influenced by RSS ideologue Dinanath Batra.
The leaders recalled that BJP MP Subramanian Swamy once demanded a change to India’s national anthem, a move they said “reflects the party’s disregard for Tagore’s contributions to Indian nationalism.” They also cited actions by the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, where writings by Tagore were reportedly dropped from school syllabi.
“Such actions form part of a larger campaign to erase Bengali and other non-Hindi cultures from India’s collective consciousness,” the party claimed. They added that these tendencies are most visible in Assam, where Bengali-speaking citizens are routinely labeled as “Bangladeshis” and face discrimination in citizenship verification processes.
NRC, CAA, and the Bengali Question
Amra Bangali also linked the current controversy to the NRC (National Register of Citizens) and CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) debates. The leaders accused the Assam government of using both mechanisms to “divide citizens along linguistic and religious lines.”
“Even after the passage of CAA in 2019, thousands of Bengalis in Assam remain excluded from citizenship. This selective exclusion exposes the government’s hypocrisy,” said Rudrapal. He asserted that such policies were being used to systematically marginalize Bengali communities living in northeastern states.
A Call to Protect India’s Pluralism
In its concluding statement, Amra Bangali declared that the “repeated humiliation of Bengali language and Tagore’s creations” is not just an insult to Bengalis but to India’s pluralistic and secular ethos. The party urged the Assam government to immediately withdraw any seditious remarks made against “Amar Sonar Bangla” and to issue a public apology.
“Rabindranath Tagore belongs to the world, not to one country. His songs symbolize unity, freedom, and love for the motherland,” said the statement. “To criminalize his work is to criminalize India’s own cultural soul.”
| Also Read: ‘One North East’ Party aims to redefine regional politics |
The controversy has sparked debate across intellectual and cultural circles, with many scholars echoing Amra Bangali’s sentiments. As the issue gains traction, it poses serious questions about how far governments can go in politicizing art, literature, and identity — and whether India can truly uphold its commitment to “unity in diversity.”
