‘Vande Mataram’ debate: TMC MPs hold silent protest against ‘insult’ of Bengal icons by BJP

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, staged a silent protest at the Central Hall of Parliament to protest the BJP’s “insult” of Bengal icons Rabindranath Tagore and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.

The MPs sat silently in the Central Hall of the Samvidhan Sadan, holding portraits of Tagore and Chatterjee. They then stopped at the gate of Samvidhan Sadan.

The protest came a day after the debate on 150 years of ‘Vande Mataram’ was held in the Lok Sabha. The discussion was initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“Today, members of the Parliament of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha held a silent protest in the Central Hall of the Parliament,” said Sagarika Ghose, vice-president of the TMC in the Rajya Sabha.

“We held this silent protest with sadness and anger that none other than Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi insulted Sahitya Samrat Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay of Bengal in the debate on Vande Mataram yesterday (December 8). [and] “He insulted our great icon Rabindranath Tagore,” he said.

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“Attempts have been made to defame, humiliate and injure the Bengali people, Bengali culture and Bengali symbols,” he alleged.

“Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay is a great figure of the Bengal Renaissance. He is the author of: ‘AnandamathMs. Ghose said “Vande Mataram” was removed from here.

“The mispronunciation of his name, the distortion of his legacy, the distortion and belittling of the role of Rabindranath Tagore, the author of our national anthem, is a terrible blow to the people of Bengal that can only come from the Prime Minister of India and the BJP,” Ms. Ghose said.

“We demand the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, to apologize to the people of Bengal for this insult to our cultural icons,” he said.

During the debate on ‘Vande Mataram’ in the Lok Sabha on Monday (December 8), the TMC accused Mr Modi of insulting Chatterjee by calling him ‘Bankim Da’. Senior TMC MP Saugata Roy said the Prime Minister should refer to him as “Bankim Babu”.

Mr. Modi readily acknowledged the sentiment, saying, “I will say Bankim Babu. Thank you, I respect your sentiments.” In a lighter tone, Prime Minister Modi asked whether he could still address Mr Roy as “father”.