‘State Song to be compulsorily played in all state govt functions’

Kolkata: The ‘State Song’ shall compulsorily be played with due respect during all state government functions at the start of such ceremony and the National Anthem will be mandatorily played at the conclusion of such ceremony/ function, a directive from the Bengal Chief Secretary stated on Sunday.

The directive further stated that State Day (Bangla Divas) shall be observed every year by the people of the state on the day of Poila Baisakh (Bengali New Year’s Day) with ‘respect and dignity’. The approximate playing time of the State Song will be 1 min 59 seconds.

The directive mentioned that all dignitaries/persons shall stand in attention when the ‘State Song’ and ‘National Anthem’ are played and mass singing is encouraged for both these songs.

‘Banglar Mati, Banglar Jal’ written by Rabindranath Tagore has been declared as ‘State Song’.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had suggested standing up during State Song at a programme in her own Assembly Constituency at Bhowanipore. It is the standard practice to stand up in honour while the National Anthem is played.

Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose had celebrated West Bengal Day in the state on June 20 at Raj Bhavan ignoring request from Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to refrain from such an arrangement.

The Chief Minister then formed a committee to decide when ‘West Bengal Day’ will be held. Former Trinamool MP and historian Sugata Basu was the advisor to the committee. The committee recommended observing Poila Baisakh as State Day. Banerjee called an all party-meeting at Nabanna Sabhaghar on August 29 where a majority of the dignitaries advocated for Poila Baiskah as the State Day.

Last September, the Trinamool Parliamentary party had brought a proposal in the state Assembly on State Song and State Day.

Asis Banerjee, Firhad Hakim, Bratya Basu, Chandrima Bhattacharya, Sushil Saha, Birbaha Hansda, Satyajit Burman, Kalipada Mandal, Biswajit Das and Krishna Kalyani were named as proposers.

The resolution regarding observance of the State Song and State Day was adopted accordingly after discussion in the state Legislative Assembly.