Anti-Bengali much? BJP chief Nitin Nabin says Tagore won Nobel for peace, not literature

A basic error in Indian history has landed BJP National President Nitin Nabin in the middle of a political storm, after he incorrectly claimed that Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Addressing a workers’ conference of the BJP’s Burdwan division in Durgapur on Wednesday, Nabin said that Rabindranath Tagore “gave a new method of education to this land” and that “for this, he received the Nobel Peace Prize.”

The statement, made while inaugurating the party’s ‘Kamal Mela’ at Rajiv Gandhi Maidan, quickly went viral—mostly for all the wrong reasons. Check out the clipping below:

The problem: Rabindranath Tagore never won the Nobel Peace Prize. Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for Gitanjali (Song Offerings), becoming the first Indian, first Asian, and first non-European to receive the honour. His work was recognised for its “profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse” that introduced Indian poetry to the Western world.

As clips of Nabin’s speech spread across social media, they triggered widespread mockery, with opposition parties seizing on the gaffe as proof of what they describe as the BJP’s “chronic ignorance” of Bengal’s intellectual legacy.

The ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), along with the CPM and Congress, sharply criticised the remark, accusing the BJP of repeatedly insulting Bengali luminaries while attempting to court Bengali voters.

Nabin was in Durgapur as part of a high-level strategy meeting to prepare the BJP for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections.

Senior leaders, including Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, former state president Dilip Ghosh, Dr Sukanta Majumdar, and Rahul Sinha, were present. The meeting focused on organisational strengthening and political strategy—but the spotlight soon shifted to an avoidable historical blunder.

This is not the first time the BJP has faced criticism over its references to Bengal’s icons. Prime Minister Narendra Modi previously sparked controversy by referring to Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay as “Dada,” while Union Home Minister Amit Shah once misnamed Rabindranath Tagore as “Rabindranath Sanyal.”

A BJP leader from Madhya Pradesh had earlier drawn outrage by calling Raja Ram Mohan Roy a British agent.

For the TMC, Nabin’s remark fits a familiar pattern. “The BJP doesn’t know Bengal or its great personalities,” the party has repeatedly alleged. With yet another factual error now added to the list, critics say the party’s outreach in the state risks being overshadowed by embarrassment rather than electoral gains.