The West Bengal government has declared ‘Poila Boisakh‘, the first day of the Bengali New Year, as the State Day and ‘Banglar Mati Banglar Jal‘ penned by Rabindranath Tagore as the State Song. This notification after September last year, when West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution declaring the same.
The State Day will be named ‘Bangla Divas‘. The State Song, 1 minute and 59 seconds long, shall compulsorily be played in all state government functions at the start of the function and the National Anthem shall be played compulsorily at the conclusion of it.
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>Poila Boisakh, also known as Bengali New Year, marks the traditional New Year’s Day for the Bengali community. It is celebrated in mid-April. Many shopkeepers practice the inauguration of a new ‘haal-khata‘, an accounts copy, and distribute sweets.
>In 1905, when Lord Curzon decided to partition undivided Bengal, Tagore’s Banglar Mati, Banglar Jal became a hymn for Bengali unity and harmony. Amar Sonar Bangla, which later became the national anthem of Bangladesh, too was written at this time.