Kolkata, Dec 8 (IANS) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks in the Lok Sabha on Monday regarding the inclusion of only a section of the famous Bengali author Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Vande Mataram as the Indian National Song, claiming that the BJP was unnecessarily politicising the matter.

“It was Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, who identified the portion of Vande Mataram for the National Song. BJP had objections even to that. They have objections to everything. At times they oppose Gurudev, and at times they oppose Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose,” the Chief Minister told newspersons at Kolkata Airport before leaving for Cooch Behar, where she will be chairing an administrative review meeting.

Earlier, PM Modi, while commemorating the 150th year of Vande Mataram in the Lok Sabha, launched a sharp attack on the Congress, alleging that the party once fractured the national song under pressure from the Muslim League and “knelt before them”.

He said, “Today, as we celebrate 150 years of Vande Mataram, we must tell new generations the truth — that Congress once split this hymn, succumbing to the pressure of the Muslim League and its everlasting appeasement policy. This should never be allowed to happen again,” PM Modi declared, urging Parliament to restore pride in the song that once united the nation against colonial rule.”

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister also gave a clarification on why she did not attend the ‘Panch Lakho Konthe Gita Path (Gita chanting by five lakh voices)’ programme at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on Sunday, despite being invited there.

“That event was actually a programme of the BJP in disguise. How could I attend that? I would have surely attended the event had it been a neutral programme. But I cannot attend a programme of those who constantly insult Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Raja Ram Mohan Roy,” the Chief Minister said.

Commenting on the recent IndiGo flights fiasco, the Chief Minister said that the lack of planning by the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation was responsible for the plight of the passengers. “I have noticed that passengers are facing immense difficulties because of the flight fiasco during the last few days. The Union government is responsible for this. There was an absolute lack of planning. I think that it is the right of the passengers to move to the court because of the problems faced by them,” the Chief Minister said.

She also questioned the suggestion given to the passengers to opt for alternative options to travel from one place to another. “How is that possible? Actually, the Union Government led by the BJP does not think of the common people. They always think of the election outcome,” the Chief Minister said.

–IANS

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