KOLKATA: Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday initiated a day-long discussion on 150 years of Vande Mataram in the Rajya Sabha, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee welcomed the move.

Before leaving for north Bengal this afternoon, Mamata told reporters at the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, "Let him do it. We have no problem."

“The BJP is unnecessarily politicising the issue. It was Rabindranath Tagore who identified the portion of Vande Mataram for the National Song, but the BJP raised objections even to it. They have objections on every issue. At times they oppose Gurudev, and at times they oppose Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose,” she alleged.

The Chief Minister also clarified why she didn’t attend the Geetha recital programme at the Brigade Parade ground on Sunday despite being invited.

“It was apparently a programme of the BJP. How could I attend that? I could have surely attended the programme had it been a neutral one. But I cannot attend a programme of those who constantly insult Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Netaji Subhas, and Raja Rammohan Roy. They (BJP) don’t know their great contribution to the country,” she added.

Modi, who initiated the discussion, observed that the song stood like a rock and inspired unity despite British oppression. Vande Mataram inspired India’s freedom movement, he said.

The ruling party in the state hit back strongly when the PM, during the 10-hour-long discussion, addressed the noted Bengali writer Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay as “Bankim da”.

He lamented that the Constitution was ‘throttled’ and the nation chained by the Emergency, noting that Vande Mataram had completed 100 years.