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‘Mocking Bengal’: TMC slams BJP over mispronunciation of freedom fighter Matangini Hazra's name at R-Day
It framed the incident as more than a linguistic mistake and alleging a deeper pattern of disrespect towards Bengal’s history and identity.
A mispronunciation by the national broadcast's commentator during the Republic Day parade has snowballed into a political controversy. During an announcement, the name of freedom fighter Matangini Hazra from Bengal was mispronounced as “Mantagini" Hazra.
West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) responded sharply on social media, framing the incident as more than a linguistic mistake and alleging a deeper pattern of disrespect towards Bengal’s history and identity. The party respectfully referred to Hazra as “Shahid” or martyr.
Matangini Hazra was shot dead by British Raj police in 1942 while she was leading volunteers to seize the Tamluk police station during the Quit India Movement. For her philosophical ground in Mahatma Gandhi's thoughts and ideals, she was also referred to as "Gandhi buri" ('Old Lady Gandhi').
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What did the TMC say?
In a post on X, it wrote: “[BJP] shouts ‘Poriborton’. But what they actually mean is PROHIBITION, on our identity, our dignity, and our rights.”
The TMC, while taking a dig at the BJP's call for “poriborton” or change in West Bengal in the elections due soon, went on to argue that the mispronunciation reflected a broader disregard for Bengal and its contributions to India’s freedom struggle.
The party called attention to Matangini Hazra’s role as a revolutionary who faced British bullets while holding the Tricolour.
“Their contempt for Bengal was on full display yet again at today’s Republic Day parade, when Shahid Matangini Hazra, who faced British bullets with the Tricolour in her hands, was casually mangled as ‘Mantagini Hazra’. This isn’t a slip of the tongue. This is a pattern. A political project built on humiliating Bengal’s icons, distorting our history, and insulting our martyrs,” the party added.
There was no response from the central government or the broadcaster Doordarshan yet.
"These Bangla-Birodhis can’t even be bothered to do their basic homework about the people who gave their lives for this nation. But then again, disrespect isn’t accidental. It’s ideological. They derive perverse satisfaction from mocking Bengal, erasing its legacy, and degrading its people," the TMC wrote on X.
