Kolkata, June 16 (IANS) A delegation of BJP leaders from West Bengal, on Monday, reached the office of the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission in Kolkata to register their protest on the reported vandalisation of the ancestral house of Rabindranath Tagore in Sirajganj in Bangladesh recently.

Speaking to the media persons, after coming out of the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission, BJP legislator and fashion designer-turned-politician Agnimitra Paul said that the party delegation sought clarification on why the ancestral property of Tagore was vandalised.

“Why is the statue of Tagore being broken in Bangladesh? Why are the Hindus in Bangladesh attacked? Why is the interim Bangladesh government not taking action against all such acts? The fact is that Gurudev was the writer of Bangladesh’s National Anthem. Why is the Bangladesh government refusing to acknowledge that? Paul asked.

She also said that the chief of the interim government in Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus, like West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, was practising appeasement politics.

“The current Bangladesh government is totally under the control of Islamic fundamentalist forces, who do not want Gurudev’s literary creation to continue as the national anthem of that country. We raised these questions, and they were polite enough to answer them. They also requested us to send an official email to them on the matter, which they will forward to their higher authorities,” Paul said.

She also said that the BJP wants the previous Indo-Bangladesh friendly relations to be restored.

BJP state general secretary and the former party Lok Sabha member Locket Chatterjee said even the staff members of the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission office in Kolkata were quite embarrassed over the vandalisation of Tagore’s ancestral house there.

“They have assured us of conveying their higher authorities about the points we raised,” Chatterjee said.

Last week, Mamata Banerjee wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting the latter to take up the matter with the Bangladesh Government regarding the issue of reported vandalism of Tagore’s ancestral house there.

“I would urge you to kindly take up the matter very strongly with the neighbouring country’s government so that no stone is left unturned to swiftly bring to justice the perpetrators of this heinous and mindless act. Although untold damage has already been done, a strong international protest would at least deter in future any attack on monuments of cultural legacies that have withstood steadfastly all tests of time,” read the Chief Minister’s letter.

–IANS

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