Banerjee associated the incident with what she described as the Centre's larger disrespect towards Bengal's heritage.

Mamata Banerjee Demands PM Modi’s Apology Over ‘Bankim Da’ Remark

On December 9, 2025, the Chief Minister of West Bengal and leader of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Mamta Banerjee, demanded an apology from PM Narendra Modi over his remark of referring to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay as “Bankim da” during a parliamentary speech during the 150th anniversary of his composition, Vande Mataram. According to her, the remark insulted the nation’s culture, history and freedom movement.

At a rally in Cooch Behar, she said that by using “da”, which is a Bengali suffix implying informal familiarity, Modi treated Bankim Chandra “as if he is just any common man”; thereby, he failed to accord “minimum respect” to the man who wrote India’s national song. She insisted a public apology was required and added that “even then you won’t be forgiven”.

The controversy originated when Modi referred to Bankim Chandra as “Bankim da” in parliament while recounting the spirit of Swadeshi associated with Vande Mataram. TMC MP Sougata Roy immediately challenged the remark and said “da” was inappropriate, calling instead for “Bankim babu”. Reportedly, other TMC MPs later staged a silent protest inside Parliament’s central hall.

Banerjee associated the incident with what she described as the Centre’s larger disrespect towards Bengal’s heritage. In her rally, she tore up a document she said was a communication from the Centre regarding the MGNREGA scheme and dismissed it as “valueless” and rejected what she called the “Centre’s alms”. She claimed Bengal had lost around 118 crore man-days and that the state government had spent INR 2,700 crore to support roughly 5.9 million people—implying that Bengal didn’t need “mercy” from the Centre.

There was a swift political backlash. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) struck back by accusing Banerjee of hypocrisy and suggested that she had remained silent when similar remarks were made by a different MP of another alliance. The BJP’s information-technology head labelled TMC’s alliance with other opposition parties as more important to Banerjee than “the pride of West Bengal”.

Banerjee further added that the state’s upcoming assembly elections would likely be announced soon after the final electoral rolls are published following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, reportedly to prevent legal challenges to the voter list.

Source: Hindustan Times