India's political arena is abuzz with sloganeering. The West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee chanted the slogan “Joy Bangla” in protest of the India’s ruling party's extremist Hindu nationalists. And in this context, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wants to create a new controversy.
Kolkata’s Victoria Memorial Hall was shaken by the slogan “Joy Sriram” just before Mamata's speech in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inaugural function of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's 125th birth anniversary on Saturday.
Mamata did not address the program, alleging that she had been “insulted” with political slogans. At the time, she said: “there should be decency in government ceremonies. No one should be insulted in this way by inviting them to the ceremony.”
The chief minister left the podium with the slogan “Joy Hind, Joy Bangla” without giving a speech.
Later, BJP activists created controversy on social media over Mamata's Joy Bangla slogan.
Criticizing Mamata, BJP’s National in-Charge of Information & Technology, Amit Malviya wrote from his Twitter account: “Y’day (yesterday), Pishi (Mamata) raised “Joy Bangla” slogan. Does she know it was the official war cry of the Bangladeshi freedom (Muktijuddho) movement popularised by (Bangabandhu) Sheikh Mujibur Rahman?”
“Who does Pishi (Mamata) want freedom from? While Netaji had dreamt of a united Bharat (India), she spoke of divisiveness...”
However, such propaganda of BJP workers is also being sharply criticized. In this regard, Assistant Editor of India Today, Meghnad Bose wrote on his Facebook account: “Mamata Banerjee saying 'Jai Hind! Joy Bangla!' makes BJP IT Cell chief and Bengal in-charge Amit Malviya ask ‘Who does Pishi want freedom from?,’ while making a completely irrelevant reference to Bangladesh and their freedom struggle.”
“’Joy Bangla’ means victory to Bengal. Just like ‘Jai Maharashtra’ means victory to Maharashtra,” he further added.
“It would be easy to pass this off as a foolish comment made by a man who doesn't know Bengali, but it's much more than that. It's a remark made by a politician seeking communal polarisation in Bengal in exchange for votes a few months down the line.”
“The ‘ignorance’ is malicious, and deliberate,” Meghnad wrote.
Joy Bangla is the most popular and historical political slogan of Bangladesh.
Joy Bangla is a salutation, slogan and war cry used by Bangladeshis and Bengali dominated parts of India i.e. West Bengal, Tripura, Barak Valley and Manbhum District to indicate nationalism towards the geopolitical, cultural and historical region of Bengal. It translates roughly to “Victory to Bengal.”
