Context: West Bengal BJP president accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of creating a ‘Greater Bangladesh’ with ‘Joy Bangla’ slogans in public meetings.

• ‘Joy Bangla’, which translates as ‘victory to Bengal’ or ‘hail Bengal’ is the national slogan of Bangladesh and that it has a special place in the country’s memory of the 1971 Liberation war.
• But the roots of the slogan go way back to 1922, when a nationalist movement against the British was raging in India.

Origins of ‘Joy Bangla’

• The phrase ‘Joy Bangla’ is taken out of a poem written by Bengali poet, musician and writer Kazi Nazrul Islam.
• In the poem ‘Purna Abhinandan’, which translates as ‘fruition of felicitation’, the phrase appears in the fifth stanza.
• The poem written in 1922 spoke about the spirit of revolutionaries in Bengal, who shattered the shackles of oppression through generations.
• Nazrul wrote extensively on the theme of rebellion against colonialism, foreign oppression, exploitation etc., and was thus given the epithet, ‘Bidrohi Kobi’ (rebel poet).
• His writings were of inspiration to Bengalis of East Bengal during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation war, when the country broke away from West Pakistan.
• In 1972, Nazrul was crowned the titled ‘national poet of Bangladesh’.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/joy-bangla-history-west-bengal-7166839/

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