Kolkata, Nov 26 (PTI) Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday expressed concern over reports that MPs were allegedly being restricted from saying ‘Jai Hind’ and ‘Vande Mataram’ inside Parliament, and asked whether such measures were aimed at undermining West Bengal’s identity.
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’.
In 1907, Zain-ul Abideen Hasan coined the term “Jai Hind”, which was adopted as a slogan of the Indian National Army in the 1940s at the suggestion of Subhas Chandra Bose. After India’s independence, it emerged as a national slogan.
In 2024, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat reminded members not to use slogans like ‘Vande Mataram’ and ‘Jai Hind’ inside or outside the House to maintain decorum, citing them as a breach of parliamentary etiquette.
The advisory, mentioned in the ‘Handbook for Members of Rajya Sabha’, was issued ahead of the commencement of a parliamentary session in 2024. PTI SCH MNB
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