In a significant political flare-up ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, State Minister and TMC leader Bratya Basu has launched a scathing attack on Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar. The controversy erupted following a press conference held by the CEC in Kolkata on Tuesday, where he allegedly misidentified India’s National Anthem as the ‘National Song.’

Bratya Basu took to social media to highlight the blunder, stating that it is “shocking” for a high-ranking constitutional dignitary to not know the difference between the two. During his speech, while attempting to pay tribute to Bengal’s icons like Rabindranath Tagore and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, the CEC reportedly referred to ‘Jana Gana Mana’ as the National Song (Vande Mataram is India’s National Song, while Jana Gana Mana is the National Anthem).

“Our Chief Election Commissioner Shri Gyanesh Kumar Ji does not even know which is our National Song and which is our National Anthem! Today, he described our National Anthem ‘Jana Gana’ as our National Song,” Basu posted on X. The TMC has seized this opportunity to question the Election Commission’s understanding of Indian heritage and cultural sensitivity, especially in the context of Bengal. While the opposition has termed this as a trivial “slip of tongue” being politicized by the ruling party, the incident has certainly added a layer of friction between the state government and the poll panel just weeks before the election dates are expected to be announced.