A 74-year-old Congress Seva Dal worker, Bidhu Bhushan Das, has become the center of a political storm after humming a line from Rabindranath Tagore's song *Amar Sonar Bangla* at a party event in Assam's Sribhumi district. The Assam BJP and state ministers criticized the act, claiming he sang the Bangladesh national anthem. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma directed police action against the district Congress committee, accusing them of disrespecting India. Das, however, insists he was merely paying tribute to Tagore and Bengal, a song he learned during childhood. Written by Tagore in 1905 to oppose Bengal's partition, the composition was later adopted as Bangladesh's anthem in 1971. Local academics say the song remains popular in Sribhumi's Bengali-speaking community as a patriotic tribute to Bengal, not Bangladesh. Congress leaders defended Das, describing him as a dedicated worker being wrongly targeted.
Childhood Memory Becomes Political Flashpoint in Assam
Bidhu Bhushan Das, a Congress Seva Dal volunteer for over five decades, explained he recited the line during a meeting that began with *Vande Mataram* and ended with India's national anthem. When invited to speak at the extended executive committee meeting in Sribhumi town, he recalled Tagore's verse *Amar Sonar Bangla, ami tomay bhalobasi*, meaning *My golden Bengal, I love you*. Das said he learned the song in school as a child and it deeply moved him. He emphasized his intent was to honor Tagore and Bengal, not Bangladesh. District Congress president Tapash Purkayastha defended Das, noting he served as panchayat president in the 1980s and remains one of the district's most active elderly workers.
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