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

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress MPs on Tuesday held a silent protest in the Central Hall of Parliament to protest the "insult" of Bengal icons Rabindranath Tagore and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee by the BJP.

The MPs sat in silence in the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan, holding the portraits of Tagore and Chatterjee. Later, they stood at the gate of the Samvidhan Sadan.

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

Sagarika Ghose, deputy leader of Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Rajya Sabha, said, "Today, the members of Parliament of the All India Trinamool Congress, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, held a silent protest in the Central Hall of Parliament."

"We held this silent protest in sorrow and in outrage that yesterday in the debate on Vande Mataram, the manner in which none other than the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, insulted Bengal's Sahitya Samrat Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (and) insulted our great icon Rabindranath Tagore... Attempts were made to defame, to humiliate and to injure the people of Bengal, the culture of Bengal and the icons of Bengal," she alleged.

Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay is a great figure of the Bengal Renaissance. He is the author of "Anandamath", from which "Vande Mataram" has been drawn, Ghose said.

"The manner in which his name was mispronounced, the manner in which his legacy was distorted, the manner in which Rabindranath Tagore, the author of our national anthem, his role was distorted... he was insulted."

"It is a terrible blow to the people of Bengal from none other than the prime minister of India and the Bharatiya Janata Party," Ghose said.

"We... demand that the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, apologise to the people of Bengal for this insult to our cultural icons," she said.

During the debate on "Vande Mataram" in the Lok Sabha on Monday, the TMC accused Modi of insulting Chatterjee by referring to him as "Bankim Da". Senior TMC MP Saugata Roy said the PM should refer to him as "Bankim Babu" instead.

Modi immediately accepted the sentiment, saying, "I will say Bankim Babu. Thank you, I respect your sentiments", and asked in a lighter vein whether he could still address Roy as "dada".