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Guwahati: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday came down heavily on the Congress after a purported video, showing Congress leader singing the Bangladesh national anthem at a district-level event in Assam, went viral on social media. While the Congress party defended it by stating that it was an integral part of Bengali culture, the ruling BJP dubbed it a planned move to lure the vote bank.Taking note of the viral video, the Assam government has also instructed the authorities concerned to probe into alleged singing of Bangladesh's national anthem at a meeting of Congress Seva Dal in Sribhumi district of Barrak Valley.BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla accused the Congress of engaging in “competitive appeasement politics,” which he said has led the Congress to “officially support Bangladeshi infiltrators” and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) to “push for Jungle Raj and the rule of Sharia laws, despite claiming to stand by the Constitution”.“The Congress is showing support to Bangladesh at a time when that country talks about dividing India. This has become a premeditated enterprise of the Congress and the Opposition,” Mr Poonawalla said, referring to controversial remarks made by Congress leaders Sam Pitroda, Priyank Kharge and others. It is significant that controversy broke out over the Congress Seva Dal meeting on Tuesday at the Indira Bhavan, the party's district office in Sribhumi town where Congress leaders began the proceedings after singing two lines of the Bangladeshi national anthem 'Amar Sonar Bangla', written by Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore, who also wrote Indian's national anthem.After the video of the meeting surfaced on social media, the BJP leaders alleged, "The Congress gave birth to Pakistan, and Bangladesh was a part of that country. The national anthem of Bangladesh was sung by the Congress to show their love for the neighbouring country." He also said that instructions were "issued to the district commissioner to take legal action after confirming the truth of the incident".Meanwhile, Congress MP and Assam Congress chief Gaurav Gogoi responded to the criticism and said, “It is a song composed by Rabindranath Tagore and conveys the sentiments of Bengali culture. The BJP has always insulted the Bengali language, Bengali culture and the people of Bengal. Their [BJP] IT Cell has also insulted people of Bengal in the past. They have shown ignorance by not knowing the history of Rabindranath Tagore. I think the people of Bengal and Bengali-speaking people in different parts of the country have recognised that the BJP only uses them for votes.”
