At a time when state Congress is floundering for ways to revive its political fortunes following the worst electoral drubbing it has suffered post indepedence in the state, one of its veteran leaders, Pradip Bhattacharya, have suggested a unique way out. “Let the activists and leaders greet each other with the salutation – Vandemataram”, the former PCC chief and presently a Rajya Sabha member, said.

Not disclosing the source of his newfound enthusiasm for a cry freedom fighters voiced in the struggle for independence, Bhattacharya called on the party rank and file to use it as a greeting. If the BJP activists can address each other with ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and Trinamul Congress workers greet each other with ‘Jai Hind’, let our activists use a salutation which is rooted in our freedom struggle, he said. The BJP workers’ salutation is defiitely religious and appears out of place in a country whose Constitution lays down its secular character, Bhattacharya said.

Moreover, it has fearsome connotation to some communities in the backdrop of recent events, he felt. As for the Trinamul greetings, it lacks originality, said the former PCC chief in whose tenure the ruling party started engineering defections from state Congress. “It has to be kept in mind that Trinamul is a just a breakway faction of Congress,” he added. The cry of Vandemataram is taken from Bankim Chandra Chattopadhaya’s novel Anandamathwhich was proscribed before independence, the Congress Rajya Sabha member said. “It was on the lips of countless freedom fighters when they mounted the gallows,” he said.

Thus it is in keeping with the secular nature of the country, Bhattacharya felt. The Congress may not have supporterd the philosophy of armed freedom figthers, but it respects the martyrs who laid their lives on the line for freedom, he said. Neither the BJP nor the Trinamul can claim to have raised its voices for freedom, Bhattacharya said. “Let the Congress supporters greet each other with Vandemataram and underscore their difference with a communal outfit and one which tacitly supports it,” he added.