Vande norms: Trinamool slams bid to pit Bankim against Tagore

Kolkata: With Centre issuing official protocol for the rendition of ‘Vande Mataram', a political war of words has been triggered in Bengal, the birthplace of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, who penned the national song. While Trinamool said it would resist attempts to pit Chattopadhyay against Rabindranath Tagore, BJP questioned TMC's reluctance to accept praises of Maa Durga. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said: "Neither Centre nor the Union home ministry can be above Tagore's understanding and evaluation of ‘Vande Mataram'. Netaji and Mahatma Gandhi concurred with Tagore on this." He added, "Let's be very clear. We are extremely proud of the fact that both ‘Vande Mataram' and ‘Jana Gana Mana' were penned by two illustrious sons of Bengal. But we oppose this politics."
"PM Narendra Modi is yet to apologise for referring to Chattopadhyay as ‘Bankimda'. Respect is not the issue here. It is this attempt to pit Chattopadhyay against Tagore that we oppose strongly. We will not allow this," Ghosh said, adding, "There's no disputing the fact that ‘Vande Mataram' was a mantra for our freedom fighters. But there's a reason why certain stanzas are sung... it was detailed by Tagore himself. Do we have to believe that BJP's understanding of this is better than Tagore's?"Bengal BJP dismissed TMC allegations claimed that Chattopadhyay's song was altered to remove stanzas that contained praise of Maa Durga.. "Trinamool, as we know, held a carnival celebrating Maa Durga. Suddenly, their change of stance raises a question — was the carnival just an eyewash?" said Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya."It was a decision prompted by Congress's appeasement politics. But the youth today must know the song in its entirety," a Bengal BJP neta said and spoke of alleged attacks during Saraswati and Kali pujas.,the neta said: "Their (Trinamool's) stance on ‘Vande Mataram' is a sign that they would stop Durga pujas this time," Bhattacharya said.Saying that BJP never had had any great thinker in its heritage, state Congress president Subhankar Sarkar said, "They are borrowing great thinkers from every possible corner. They started to renounce Rabindranath Tagore. They refuse to accept that the Visvakavi's song can be the national anthem of Bangladesh. They can't even pronounce Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay's name properly."