Tripura BJP continues protest against vandalism at Tagore's ancestral home in Bangladesh

The ruling BJP in Tripura continued their protest rallies, with another big protest march held between the city and the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission office on Monday to protest against the recent attack and vandalism of the ancestral home of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in the neighbouring country. 

Tripura BJP President Rajib Bhattacharjee, Vice-President Subal Bhowmik and Papia Datta, the party’s media-cell head, and Sunit Sarkar led the rally organised from Vivekananda stadium to the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission office in the outskirts of the city.

Bhattacharjee, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, 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, the BJP leader termed the act as a blow to literature, culture and humanism.

He said that it is most unfortunate that the Bangladeshi authorities have yet to arrest any people involved in the attack and vandalism.

“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.

For a while, the BJP held a sit-in demonstration near the Bangladesh Assistant High Commission office.

Led by Bhattacharjee, the BJP in Tripura on Sunday held a candlelight rally to protest against vandalism of the ancestral home of Tagore in Bangladesh.

The party on June 14 held protests at more than six places in seven districts along Tripura’s 856 km border with Bangladesh.

Senior leaders, including ministers, led the protest rallies in Agartala, Bishalgarh, Udaipur, Belonia, Kailashahar, Dharmanagar and Khowai.

State BJP General Secretary and MLA Bhagaban Das, who led Saturday’s 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 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.