A fresh conflict has erupted between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after BJP MP Dinesh Sharma told the Rajya Sabha earlier this week that renowned Bengali freedom fighter Matangini Hazra had raised the slogan of Vande Mataram “despite being a Muslim”.
Sharma’s remark drew an angry response from the TMC camp, which labelled the BJP as “Bangla birodhi (anti-Bengali)” and “bahiragoto (outsiders)”. Seizing on the row, the ruling party in West Bengal stepped up its attack on the BJP ahead of the state Assembly elections slated for early next year.
In a sharp reaction to Sharma’s comment, TMC supremo and Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “A BJP leader said that Matangini Hazra was a Muslim. Do you (the BJP) even know Bengal?”
Often referred to as Gandhi buri (old lady Gandhi), Matangini Hazra was among many women who answered Mahatma Gandhi’s call to join the freedom struggle. In September 1942, 73-year-old Hazra led a procession of around 6,000 protesters, mostly women, with the aim to take over the Tamluk police station from British authorities. She was shot dead by the British Indian police in front of the police station, making her one of the earliest martyrs of the Quit India movement.
This was not the first time that the TMC has gunned for the BJP over its leaders’ comments regarding Bengal’s culture and icons.
In the Lok Sabha earlier this week, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, who penned Vande Mataram in the late 19th century, as “Bankim da”, it became another political flashpoint between the BJP and the TMC. During the discussion on 150 years of the national song in the House, TMC MP Saugata Roy objected to Modi’s remark, urging the PM to instead use “Bankim babu”.
But when another BJP MP during the same discussion incorrectly referred to the Bengali icon as “Bankim Das Chattopadhyay”, Mamata Banerjee saw an opportunity to tear into the BJP. Demanding an apology from the PM, the CM said, “Bankim Chandra Chattopadhay, who wrote Vande Mataram, is being called ‘Bankim Da’. As if (the BJP) shares tea with him.”
Banerjee also alleged that the BJP leaders called freedom fighter Khudiram Bose a “terrorist” and labelled renowned reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy a “British agent”.
Both parties are already going all out to take on each other amidst the Election Commission (EC)’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh demanded an apology from the BJP for Sharma’s “unfortunate” and “irresponsible” statement. “Matangini Hazra is a martyr who received bullets on her chest during the Quit India movement. She is a symbol of Mother India. How can the BJP raise a question if she was a Muslim or a Hindu?” Ghosh said.
In a post on X, the TMC said, “The BJP has finally confessed what Bengal always knew: They do not know our history, they do not respect our icons, and they certainly cannot pronounce our martyrs’ names. Their MP, Dinesh Sharma, stood in Parliament and butchered the name of Matangini Hazra, exposing the BJP’s chronic, deep-seated disconnect from Bengal in a single, shameful moment.”
“This is what happens when Bangla birodhi bohiragotos (anti-Bengali outsiders) try to act like custodians of patriotism,” the TMC said.
Incidentally, Tamluk, where Matangini Hazra was martyred in 1942, falls in the East Midnapore district, which is the home turf of senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly. However, Adhikari and other BJP leaders have remained silent on Sharma’s remark, even though some state party leaders are said to be “upset” over it.
A senior BJP leader said, “We are not only declining to give a statement on this but we are also angry after Sharma made such a statement. This is disappointing that one after another our leaders would make such faux pas, leaving us to give explanations for them.”
He also said, “It is especially embarrassing for Suvendu Adhikari as Matangini Hazra hails from his home district Midnapore. He often mentions with pride that he belongs to Matangini Hazra’s land.”
On its part, the TMC is looking to extract as much mileage from these gaffes as possible as the Assembly elections approach. Since the 2021 Assembly polls, when the BJP recorded its best showing in the state to become the principal Opposition, the TMC has regularly gone after the BJP, accusing it of being “anti-Bengal”. Raising accusations of withholding funds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) and other Central programmes, the TMC has claimed that the BJP was “hampering” the development of Bengal.
Mamata Banerjee has cited these examples to allege that these were part of the BJP’s “conspiracy to suppress Bengali pride”. The CM also claimed
that she would “give up her life but not her language” after reported arrests of several Bengali-speaking people in different states. She also vowed to stand up against attempts to “erase” Bengali pride, disenfranchise the poor, or drive out migrants under the guise of the SIR.
“We have no enmity with any language. I believe that unity in diversity is the foundation of our nation. But if you try to erase our language and culture, we will resist peacefully, powerfully, and politically,” Banerjee said.
