dailyO
Politics

Mamata Banerjee's mind, it seems, is full of Tagore

Advertisement
Indrajit Kundu
Indrajit KunduJan 16, 2017 | 16:48

Mamata Banerjee's mind, it seems, is full of Tagore

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's penchant for poetry and painting is well known. Be it on the floor of the Assembly or at public rallies, Didi evokes the poetry of Tagore and Nazrul Islam all the time, quite effortlessly.

So much so that her love for Rabindra and Nazrul has found a unique way into the hearts of Kolkatan's daily life, blaring in from every traffic signal in the city.

Advertisement

Her party workers too diligently pay homage to the Bengali luminaries with as much gusto – playing Rabindra sangeet non-stop at every nook and corner of the city to mark “Pachishey Baisakh”, Tagore’s birthday.

mamtaa_011617043951.jpg
A couple of years ago, Mamata had stunned her audience by proudly proclaiming that Tagore shared a great camaraderie with both Shakespeare and Keats! Photo: Reuters

The state government’s Rabindra Jayanti programme, which was earlier confined to the Rabindra Sadan complex has now made its way onto the road, for a more public celebration, blocking an entire stretch in the busy Chowringhee area for a day.

Clearly, Didi’s love for Tagore knows no bounds. Often, imagination gives way to history when Didi and her team get in the mood to invoke Bengal’s greatest icon. Never mind the guffaws!

Sample this: on posters of a government-organised literary festival in Kolkata, lines by Jibanananda Das, an icon of modern Bengali poetry, have been attributed to Tagore!

 

i-kundujpg_011617053026.jpg
 

Literature connoisseurs attending the festival got a rude shock when they saw the posters splashed at the event.

Lines from Das’ much celebrated creation “Akashleena” from his book Shathti Tarar Timir have been blatantly attributed to Tagore in the poster, raising quite a few brows, especially on social media given that the event is organised by none other than the information and cultural affairs department under the chief minister's charge.

Advertisement

But this is not the first time. On an earlier occasion, John Keats and William Shakespeare became contemporaries of Tagore, in Didi’s inimitable time-machine journey as she stressed on the global nature of Tagore’s influence.

Jibanananda Das' original poem:

screenshot_20170116-_011617053336.jpg
 

A couple of years ago, at the inauguration of the Kolkata Book Fair, Mamata had stunned her audience by proudly proclaiming that Tagore shared a great camaraderie with both Shakespeare and Keats! The English romantic poet had died 40 years before Tagore arrived on this earth in 1861, while Shakespeare left the planet in 1616!

No wonder then that her overzealous department officials have “inadvertently” gifted Jibanananda Das' words to Kolkata on Tagore's behalf.

Last updated: January 16, 2017 | 19:28
IN THIS STORY
Please log in
I agree with DailyO's privacy policy