CM questions ‘curbs’ on ‘Jai Hind’, ‘Vande Mataram’ in Parl

Kolkata: Expressing concern over reports that MPs were allegedly being restricted from saying ‘Jai Hind’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ inside Parliament, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday asked whether such measures were aimed at undermining the identity of Bengal.

Banerjee said she had come across media reports claiming that the patriotic slogans were not being permitted in the House. “I do not know whether this is true and I will ask the MPs,” Banerjee said after garlanding a statue of BR Ambedkar on Red Road here.

“’Jai Hind’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ cannot be said in Parliament. We must remember that ‘Vande Mataram’ is our national song. All our slogans are ‘Vande Mataram’. That was used to be the protest line used by the freedom fighters. How can it be forgotten? Do they want to destroy the identity of Bengal?” she asked.

She stressed that Bengal “is an integral part of the country and has always fought for democracy”. “Bangla (Bengal) is not outside India. It is very much part and parcel of India. And we are proud to say that Bengal always fights for democracy, secularism, unity and diversity of our country,” she said. Vande Mataram, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in the 1870s, was officially adopted as the national song of India in 1950. The poem first appeared in the 1882 Bengali novel ‘Anandmath’.