Bow your head: Mamata demands PMs apology over Bankim da remark

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday (December 9, 2025) demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly insulting Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay by referring to him as “Bankim da” in Parliament.

Ms. Banerjee said that the remarks by the Prime Minister is akin to disrespecting country’s history and freedom struggle

“The person who wrote the national song was disrespected. You should bow your head and ask for forgiveness from the people. Yet you won’t be forgiven, because you have disrespected the country’s history and freedom struggle,” the Chief Minister said while addressing a public meeting in the State’s Cooch Behar district.

Participating in a discussion in Lok Sabha on 150 years of Vande Mataram, Prime Minister on Monday referred to the writer of the national song Vande Mataram as “Bamkim da”. After intervention of TMC MP Sougata Roy, Mr. Modi switched to ‘Bamkim Babu’ but the Trinamool Congress has launched a scathing attack The Trinamool Congress has often dubbed BJP as a party of “outsiders” and the development assumes significance before upcoming assembly polls in the State.

“It (The Prime Minister’s remarks)sounded as if someone was calling ‘Harida’ or ‘Shyamda’. This is how you addressed Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, who wrote the national song. You did not give him even this much respect.” the Chief Minister said. In Bengali language ‘Da’ is a respectful suffix, a short form of ‘Dada’ meaning ‘ elder brother’. Bamkim Chandra Chattopadhyay is considered one of the greatest writers and icons from the State and often referred to as ‘ Rishi Bankim’.

The Trinamool Congress chairperson also referred to the attack on Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar statue in Kolkata during a BJP rally in May 2019 and alleged that the BJP leaders have claimed that “Raja Rammohan Roy that he was not a patriot. He called Khudiram Bose a terrorist”.

 The Trinamool Congress has often dubbed BJP as a party of “outsiders” and the Prime Minister’s remarks have given the West Bengal ruling party to launch a fresh attack on BJP.

“This is what happens when outsiders who have no organic connection to Bengal’s intellectual tradition try to mimic reverence they have never learned to practice. They mispronounce, they trivialise, they reduce giants to gimmicks, and in the process, expose their utter contempt for what Bengal truly stands for,” the Trinamool Congress had posted on social media on Monday.

Only a few weeks ago, the Trinamool Congress and the BJP in West Bengal were competing to appropriate icons like Rabindranath Tagore and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. The Trinamool Congress government has recently come out with a notification that Tagore’s Song ‘Banglar Maati Banglar Jal’ ( Bengal land and Bengal’s water) will be played during morning assembly in state-run schools. The BJP, which has been trying to appropriate Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, had questioned the timing of the decision, saying that the Trinamool was not offering the desired respect to Vande Mataram, which was a war cry during the freedom struggle.