BJP's Sambit Patra slams Congress for singing Bangladesh's national anthem in party meet

Bhubaneswar, Oct 30 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament and the party's national spokesperson Sambit Patra, on Thursday, criticised the Congress over media reports regarding a senior Congress leader Vidhu Bhusan Das singing Bangladesh's national anthem, Amar Sonar Bangla, during a party meeting in Assam's Sribhumi district recently.

Addressing a press conference in Bhubaneswar, BJP leader Patra expressed shock that the senior Congress leader began the meeting of the party's Seva Dal at Sribhumi on October 27 by singing the national anthem of Bangladesh.

He alleged that this reflects the Congress party's politics of appeasement and its desperation to pamper the illegal infiltrators for vote-bank politics.

He also clarified that the BJP has no issues with the national anthem of Bangladesh, which was written by poet Rabindranath Tagore.

"Rabindranath Tagore is a great personality and Nobel laureate who composed both India and Bangladesh's national anthems, which is a matter of pride for every Indian. But the question here is not about Tagore -- it's about the appeasement politics of the Congress party and how the Congress party continuously pursues the policy of appeasement to give legitimacy to the infiltrators. Singing the Bangladesh national anthem in a Congress meeting in India is an insult to our national pride," BJP leader Patra added.

The only purpose behind the singing of the national anthem of Bangladesh in the Congress party meeting is an attempt to create a vote bank for the party by appeasing the infiltrators who have come to Assam or other parts of the country.

BJP leader Patra also alleged that Congress leaders, including those who had earlier held important party posts, were part of the meeting and supported the act.

"This is yet another example of how the Congress is trying to please infiltrators and minorities for political gains and this is the reason why the party is opposing SIR," he said, demanding that top Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi clarify the party's stand on this issue.

--IANS

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