Agartala, June 15 (IANS) The ruling BJP in Tripura on Sunday held a candlelight rally to protest the recent attack and vandalism of the ancestral home of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in Bangladesh.

Tripura BJP President Rajib Bhattacharjee, who led the candlelight rally, said that people across the world respect and love Tagore for his monumental literary creations in all fields. Strongly condemning the vandalisation of Tagore’s home in Bangladesh, Bhattacharjee, who is also a member of Rajya Sabha, termed the act as a blow to literature, culture and humanism.

“Tagore is the architect of the national anthem of both India and Bangladesh,” the BJP leader said and demanded exemplary punishment for those who are involved in the shocking incident. The ruling BJP on Saturday held protests at more than six places in seven districts along Tripura’s border with Bangladesh.

Senior leaders, including ministers, led the protest rallies in Agartala, Bishalgarh, Udaipur, Belonia, Kailashahar, Dharmanagar and Khowai. BJP sources said that similar protests would also be held on June 16 in all Assembly constituencies in Tripura. State BJP General Secretary and MLA Bhagaban Das, who led a protest rally in Agartala-Akhaura Integrated Check Post, said, “A barbaric incident of attack and vandalisation at the ancestral home of Rabindranath Tagore in Bangladesh has shocked people in India.”

Das, a former minister, said that such an attack on the shared cultural heritage is totally unacceptable. “There must be a limit to such atrocious actions. The properties and heritage relating to a towering cultural icon like Tagore have not been spared in Bangladesh. Such acts are an unforgivable crime,” he told the media.

Earlier, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha also condemned the attack and vandalisation of Tagore’s ancestral home in Bangladesh and termed it as an “attack on our culture and heritage”. He said that the act was a strongly condemnable and shameful incident for the entire nation. “The interim government of Bangladesh needs to act strongly,” the Chief Minister said.

On June 8, a mob attacked and vandalised the ancestral home of Rabindranath Tagore in Bangladesh, also known as Rabindra Kachharibari or Rabindra Memorial Museum in Sirajganj district.

Media reports said that the attackers also assaulted a director of the institution. Situated in Shahzadpur in Rajshahi division, Rabindra Kachharibari is the ancestral home and revenue office of the Tagore family. Many of Tagore’s literary works came up while living in this mansion.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs also on June 12 strongly condemned the vandalism of Tagore’s ancestral home in Bangladesh, describing it as part of a “systematic” pattern by extremists to undermine the country’s syncretic cultural heritage. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal termed the June 8 attack on the Rabindra Kachharibari as a “despicable” act and “a disgrace to the memory and the inclusive philosophy” of the Nobel Laureate.

–IANS

sc/uk