The Congress party has been embroiled in a deep controversy after a local leader and several others in India’s northeastern state of Assam are facing potential treason charges after reciting “Amar Sonar Bangla” — the national anthem of Bangladesh — at a party event, a move that the state government has described as “anti-national” and “supportive of foreign narratives.”

The controversy erupted after 80-year-old Bidhu Bhusan Das, a grassroots Congress worker in the Sribhumi district, sang Amar Sonar Bangla during a local party gathering. Sribhumi lies along the India–Bangladesh border in Assam’s Bengali-speaking Barak Valley, where the song, written by Rabindranath Tagore, is culturally revered among many Bengali speakers.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ordered police to take legal action against the district unit of the Congress party, claiming the act represented “an endorsement of claims from across the border” that threaten India’s territorial integrity.

“The performance of Bangladesh’s national anthem instead of India’s in Sribhumi is a clear insult to the Indian nation and its people,” Sarma said.

“It aligns with recent assertions by some Bangladeshi figures who claim that India’s Northeast region should be part of Bangladesh. Such actions are anti-national and will not be tolerated.”

State authorities are reportedly preparing to file charges of sedition or treason against the local Congress leadership.

Congress defends cultural context

Leaders of the opposition Congress party have rejected the accusations, calling the government’s response a politically motivated overreaction.

State Congress president Gaurav Gogoi defended Das’s recitation, noting that Amar Sonar Bangla was composed by Tagore in 1905 — decades before Bangladesh existed — as a protest against the first partition of Bengal by the British.

“The BJP’s attack reveals its ignorance of Bengal’s cultural and linguistic heritage,” Gogoi said.

“Rabindranath Tagore is not only India’s first Nobel laureate but also the author of both India’s and Bangladesh’s national anthems. To equate his song with anti-national activity is to insult his legacy and the Bengali people.”

The Congress accused the BJP of manufacturing controversy to distract from pressing governance issues and of repeatedly alienating linguistic and cultural minorities in India’s Northeast.

Cultural symbolism meets geopolitical sensitivity

Amar Sonar Bangla (“My Golden Bengal”) was written by Rabindra Nath Tagore to celebrate Bengal’s natural beauty and cultural unity. It became Bangladesh’s national anthem after the country’s independence from Pakistan in 1971. The song remains popular among Bengali-speaking communities in India’s West Bengal and Assam states, where it is often performed in literary and cultural contexts.

However, the current diplomatic tensions between India and Bangladesh have amplified the sensitivity of such expressions. Relations between the two neighbors have deteriorated since the ouster of former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who is now reportedly living in exile in India.

Bangladesh’s interim government, led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, has drawn closer to Pakistan in recent months. Last week, Yunus met Pakistan’s military chief, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, and presented him with a book featuring a controversial map of Bangladesh that included parts of India’s northeastern states — an image that has sparked anger in New Delhi.

A flashpoint in Assam’s political landscape

The Sribhumi incident has quickly escalated into a major political issue in Assam, a state already marked by ethnic diversity and historical tensions over identity and migration.

Analysts say the BJP’s strong reaction reflects both the growing nationalist rhetoric in India’s domestic politics and the government’s heightened concern about border stability in the region.

While the Congress insists that the event was a cultural gesture with no political motive, the Assam government’s legal action signals a hardening stance toward any expression seen as sympathetic to Bangladesh at a time of strained bilateral ties.

As the investigation proceeds, the episode has reignited debate over the intersection of culture, language, and nationalism in one of India’s most sensitive border regions — and underscored how a century-old Tagore composition continues to stir deep emotions on both sides of the frontier.

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