The manufactured outrage over Amar Sonar Bangla shows how Bengal’s cultural icons have become convenient shields for Mamata’s political insecurities

The political theatre in West Bengal has never lacked melodrama, but the recent uproar over Rabindranath Tagore’s Amar Sonar Bangla sets a new bar for absurdity. A state that once prided itself on intellectualism now seems content with emotional manipulation every time the Trinamool Congress senses its ground slipping. And in the most predictable move imaginable, a simple question from the BJP about the political use of a cultural composition has triggered Mamata Banerjee into her favourite performance: the teary-eyed guardian of Bengali pride crying that the “BJP hates Bengal.”

The moment the controversy began, the usual script unfolded. TMC leaders launched their customary shrill accusations, and their friendly media outlets rushed to paint the BJP as a cultural outsider trying to defil