The Congress party has been embroiled in a deep controversy after a local leader and several others in India’s northeastern state of Assam are facing potential treason charges after reciting “Amar Sonar Bangla” — the national anthem of Bangladesh — at a party event, a move that the state government has described as “anti-national” and “supportive of foreign narratives.”

The controversy erupted after 80-year-old Bidhu Bhusan Das, a grassroots Congress worker in the Sribhumi district, sang Amar Sonar Bangla during a local party gathering. Sribhumi lies along the India–Bangladesh border in Assam’s Bengali-speaking Barak Valley, where the song, written by Rabindranath Tagore, is culturally revered among many Bengali speakers.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ordered police to take legal action against the district unit of the Congress party, claiming the act represented “an endorsement of claims from across the border” that threaten India’s territorial integrity.

“The performance of Bangladesh’s national anthem instead of India’s in Sribhumi is a clear insult to the Indian nation and its people,” Sarma........

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