TMC MPs Hold Silent Protest Over Alleged Insult to Bengal Icons; Mamata Seeks PM’s Apology

PTI, NEW DELHI/COOCH BEHAR, DEC 9, 2025: Trinamool Congress MPs on Tuesday held a silent protest in the Central Hall of Parliament to protest the "insult" of Bengal icons Rabindranath Tagore and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee by the BJP. The MPs sat in silence in the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan, holding the portraits of Tagore and Chatterjee. Later, they stood at the gate of the Samvidhan Sadan.

The protest came a day after a discussion on 150 years of "Vande Mataram" was held in the Lok Sabha. The debate was initiated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sagarika Ghose, deputy leader of Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the Rajya Sabha, said: "Today, the members of Parliament of the All India Trinamool Congress, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, held a silent protest in the Central Hall of Parliament."

"We held this silent protest in sorrow and in outrage that yesterday in the debate on Vande Mataram, the manner in which none other than the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, insulted Bengal's Sahitya Samrat Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (and) insulted our great icon Rabindranath Tagore... Attempts were made to defame, to humiliate and to injure the people of Bengal, the culture of Bengal and the icons of Bengal," she alleged.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that he has insulted novelist Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay by calling him "Bankim da". Addressing a rally in Cooch Behar district, Mamata said the Prime Minister was not even born when the country achieved Independence and yet chose to address one of Bengal's greatest cultural icons casually. "You did not even show him the minimum respect he deserves. You should apologise for this, to the nation," she said.