Assam’s Silchar town on Thursday witnessed a protest by cultural activists, intellectuals and organisations against chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s directive to register a case against the Sribhumi District Congress Committee (DCC) for singing Amar Sonar Bangla — Bangladesh’s national anthem — at a party meeting on October 27.

Held in front of freedom fighter Khudiram Bose’s statue, the hour-long protest saw participants sing Amar Sonar Bangla and assert that the song written by Rabindranath Tagore was part of Bengali culture and heritage.

They said they did not need permission to sing it and would not be cowed down by threats of FIRs or the National Secuirity Act (NSA).

The protesters said the song, written by Tagore in 1905 to protest the partition of Bengal, was adopted as Bangladesh’s national anthem only after 1971. “The song we are proud of is being politicised today,” said a speaker.

Sarma had on October 29 directed police to register a case against the Sribhumi DCC, saying the act was “an endorsement of the claim of various Bangladeshi people and organs of the government that Northeast is their part and parcel”.

The move drew criticism across South Assam and Bengal, with sources saying the administration appeared on the “backfoot” as no FIR had been filed
till Friday.

Former Assam University vice-chancellor Tapodhir Bhattacharjee and several organisations joined the protest. A similar agitation is being planned in Sribhumi district.