A conflict has erupted between the BJP units of West Bengal and Assam, and at the center of this storm is Assam’s Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma. Sarma is always on the lookout for issues that can help him polarize public sentiment in his state. This time, he has chosen Amar Sonar Bangla, the famous song by Rabindranath Tagore that embodies Bengali nationalism.
Sarma has filed a sedition case against a local Congress leader in Assam’s Karimganj district for singing this song at a public gathering. His reasoning: it is an “anti-national” song because Bangladesh has adopted it as its national anthem. While this issue might resonate within Assam, Sarma’s move has ignited outrage in neighboring West Bengal. For Bengalis, Amar Sonar Bangla, written in 1905 during the partition of Bengal by the British, defines Bengali nationalism. Although it serves as Bangladesh’s national anthem, Bengalis regard it as a song of regional pride.
What worries the BJP in West Bengal the most is that Sarma’s action has angered the very section of voters the party has been trying to woo — the Bengali middle class.
The Bengali Bhadralok, as this social group is known, considers Tagore a cultural icon and has strongly objected on social media to BJP-related posts mocking the song as “Abdul Chacha’s song.” The irony is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his very first rally in Kolkata in 2014, had recited a few lines from this very song. That clip has gone viral on social media, leaving BJP leaders in both Assam and West Bengal stunned.
Zohran Mamdani’s Stories Go Viral on Social Media
Now that Indian-American Zohran Mamdani has overcome all odds to become New York City’s first Muslim mayor of South Asian origin, some fascinating stories about him and his family are going viral on social media. One particularly heartwarming story revolves around his mother, the filmmaker Mira Nair.
It dates back to when she took her mother with her to the Cannes Film Festival, where her film Salaam Bombay! was being screened. There, members of the media approached the elegantly dressed woman in a sari and asked what role she had played in the film. Nair’s mother humorously replied, “I am the producer of the director.”
During her son’s mayoral campaign in New York, Mira Nair repeated her mother’s line with a small twist. When reporters asked her about her connection with the Democratic candidate, she proudly replied, “I am the producer of the candidate!”
Interestingly, Zohran Mamdani’s middle name, Kwame, is inscribed on a road in New Delhi’s diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri. Kwame Nkrumah was Ghana’s first President and one of Africa’s greatest anti-colonial leaders — also a close friend of India. In 1983, when the Non-Aligned Movement Summit was held in New Delhi, Indira Gandhi’s government decided to honor this great son of Africa by naming a street in Chanakyapuri Kwame Nkrumah Marg.
Zohran’s father added Kwame to his son’s name in memory of the Ghanaian leader. Being an Indian of Ugandan origin, the senior Mamdani wanted his son to have an African connection as part of his identity.
Power Outages During Modi’s Patna Roadshow
The BJP faced a few embarrassing moments when the lights went out at least twice during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent roadshow in Patna. The power outages occurred just as the Prime Minister was concluding the event. Fortunately, the blackout happened before he reached that particular stretch.
His security team and the local administration reacted with lightning speed to resolve the issue, managing to bring the roadshow to a smooth end. However, the power failure gave the opposition an opportunity to mock the BJP’s campaign slogan that had ridiculed the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) election symbol — the lantern.
The BJP has often claimed that, thanks to assured electricity supply, Bihar no longer needs lanterns. But after this incident, the opposition gleefully turned that slogan back on the BJP.
