Congress leader sings Bangladeshi National Anthem at a party event in Assam, BJP calls it an example of “tukde-tukde” ideology of Congress

Assam Congress leader sparks outrage after singing Bangladesh’s national anthem during party meeting
Congress leader sings Bangladesh’s national anthem (Image via X/TheAshokSinghal)

A major political row has broken out in Assam after a Congress leader, Vidhu Bhushan Das, sang Bangladesh’s national anthem Amar Sonar Bangla during a party meeting in Sribhumi on Monday, 28th October. The event was an executive meeting of the Congress Sevadal, organised by the party’s Sribhumi District Committee at Indira Bhavan.

Sribhumi lies close to the Bangladesh border and has a large Bengali-speaking population. However, the act of singing the Bangladeshi anthem at a political event has triggered widespread criticism. The ruling BJP has accused the Congress of indulging in vote-bank and appeasement politics.

BJP MLA Krishnendu Paul called it “shameful,” claiming that the Congress has always been sympathetic toward Bangladesh and illegal immigrants.

Assam Health Minister Ashok Singhal also shared a video of Das singing the anthem on X, saying it exposed the Congress’s “real agenda.” In his post, Singhal wrote that the same country whose anthem was sung “wants to separate the Northeast from India,” alleging that Congress has for years supported illegal infiltration for political gain.

The Assam BJP also issued a statement asking whether the incident was a mistake or a deliberate move to woo Bangladesh-origin Muslim voters ahead of the 2026 state elections. The party linked the event to tensions caused by Bangladesh’s recent controversial map that claims parts of India’s Northeast region. “The Bangladesh government includes Northeast India in its imaginary map, and Congress leaders sing their national anthem, it’s something they must answer for,” the BJP said.

Taking its attack further, the BJP’s Assam unit posted on X, saying, “The signs couldn’t be louder. Just days ago Bangladesh dared to publish a map swallowing the entire Northeast and now the Bangladesh-obsessed Congress is proudly singing Bangladesh’s national anthem right here in Assam. If after this someone still can’t see the agenda at play, then they’re either blind, complicit or both.”

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla also hit out at the Congress during a press conference, accusing it of siding with infiltrators. “Congress is openly supporting Bangladeshi infiltrators. The TMC and other parties of the INDIA alliance are doing the same. They are dividing the country in the name of appeasement politics,” he said.

The BJP termed the incident an example of the Congress’s “tukde-tukde” ideology and said such actions insult the nation by putting political interests above national unity.

Notably, Bangladesh national anthem Amar Sonar Bangla is talen from a poem written by Rabindranath Tagore in 1905 during the first partition of Bengal. After the creation of Bangladesh, the country adopted the first 10 lines of the poem as its national anthem. After the fall of Sheikh Hasina government and rise of Islamists, there are growing demands to change the anthem in Bangladesh due to its Indian roots, but the interim government has rejected such demands so far.

Written by OpIndia Staff
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