"You all should bow down your heads and rub your nose on ground", Mamata roars on 'Bankim Da' statement

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee unleashes a scathing attack on PM Narendra Modi during a massive rally in Cooch Behar today, accusing him of disrespecting the revered author Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay by calling him "Bankim Da" – a casual term that she likened to addressing him as "Shyamda" or "Harida". This fiery retort came hot on the heels of Modi's slip-up in the Lok Sabha yesterday where he used the affectionate suffix while commemorating 150 years of Vande Mataram, the national song penned by Chattopadhyay. Mamata, speaking to a cheering crowd at Coochbehar Rashmela Ground after an administrative meeting, demanded an immediate apology, saying the PM should bow his head before the people and seek forgiveness for failing to honor the man who gave India its stirring anthem.

TMC MPs had already raised a ruckus in Parliament, with Saugata Roy interrupting Modi thrice to insist on the respectful "Bankim babu", a nod to the cultural reverence Bengalis hold for their Sahitya Samrat."You all should bow down your heads and rub your nose on ground", roars Mamata. She didn't stop at the Bankim remark; she broadened her slamming on BJP, charging them with a pattern of insulting Bengal's freedom fighters and icons. She pointed to the mispronunciation of revolutionaries like Pulin Bihari Das as "Pulin Bikash Das" and Masterda Surya Sen as "Master Surya Sen" during the same speech, and went further by recalling how the BJP labeled Raja Ram Mohan Roy as not a patriot, branded Khudiram Bose a terrorist, and even vandalized Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar's statue.

"They are dishonoring our culture, our movements, and our history," she thundered, highlighting Bengal's pivotal role in India's independence struggle. The rally, part of her two-day visit to stand with locals against the Centre's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists, turned into a platform to rally support, with Mamata vowing that the people would deliver a fitting reply to these "insults".As the row escalates, BJP leaders fired back, calling TMC's outrage hypocritical and pointing to instances where Mamata allegedly undermined icons like Swami Vivekananda and Satyajit Ray. TMC MPs hold a silent protest outside Parliament's Central Hall today earlier, clutching portraits of Bankim and Rabindranath Tagore. This clash underscores the deepening cultural and political divide between the two parties, with Bengal's pride at its core, just as the Winter Session of the Parliament heats up.