Union Home Minister Amit Shah and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Tuesday, celebrated Nobel laureate and poet Rabindranath Tagore’s 162nd birth anniversary in separate programmes organised in Kolkata.
Shah began his day by visiting Thakurbari, Tagore’s ancestral home in the city. After attending two other programmes during the day – Shah participated in a third event at Science City, organised to observe Rabindra Jayanti, Tagore’s birth anniversary.
Chief minister Banerjee, on the other hand, was present at an official function organised at an auditorium. “Just for winning elections, some Opposition parties try to appropriate Gurudeb’s lessons to buy votes from the people. They keep making wrong statements and actions all the time – be it erroneously referring to Santiniketan as Tagore’s birthplace…,” Banerjee was quoted as saying in a Trinamool release.
Shah, speaking at Science City, said that there’s no place in the literary sphere where Tagore had not left his impression, and how he has been an inspiration for great personalities of his time.
Shah talked about the educational efforts made by Tagore at Santiniketan. He also highlighted the poet's bonding with Gujarat, and also spoke about Netaji, JC Bose, and Albert Einstein, while talking about Tagore’s life.
The occasion was also celebrated by regional leaders affiliated to leading political parties, who paid homage to Tagore in separate functions.
The great national icons from the region – Netaji, Tagore, a few others – are revered and celebrated, by political affiliates with equal enthusiasm, who otherwise follow differing political ideologies.