Trinamool Congress uses Rabindranath Tagore's missing Nobel to take pot shots at BJP

The mystery surrounding Rabindranath Tagore’s missing Nobel medallion re-emerged as an issue on his anniversary on Monday in West Bengal’s politics.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed her disappointment over the fact that despite investigations, the Nobel medallion has still not been located and recovered. Banerjee considers this situation a great disrespect. “It hurts. Such a big thing, we got it first, before others, and someone took it away from us… this is a big disrespect (insult) for us,” she stated.

Tagore’s Nobel medallion and other memorabilia were stolen on March 25, 2004 from a Visva Bharati University museum in Santiniketan, West Bengal. During this phase, the Left Front government ruled the state, and the case was handed over to the CBI. In 2009, the investigation was closed, in absence of clues. Banerjee, on earlier occasions, had stated that the state agencies can investigate if the case is handed over by the CBI.

Like the Trinamool chief, political reactions - including two weird comments - also emerged from different political parties. An elected representative of the Trinamool stated that by presenting the Nobel, Tagore was insulted, "so the boys in the state stole it". Rahul Sinha, a BJP leader, associated Trinamool with the incident. Trinamool’s mouthpiece stated that the CBI must ensure its return.

Tagore’s missing medal is a sentimental issue in the state, and for his admirers, across the world. This is a second issue - like differing-opinions on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s death in an airplane crash on August 18, 1945 - that generates heat in regional politics.

In Bengal, the two issues have stayed to haunt political opponents. As the medallion remains untracked, it gives an opportunity to the ruling party in the state for blaming the Centre (as CBI is a central investigation agency).

Similarly, despite several commissions for investigation and declassification of documents concerning Netaji, an ambiguity still prevails over his last days. While the BJP-led government at the Centre has taken several initiatives to highlight Netaji’s contributions, a large section of Netaji’s followers expect an unambiguous clarity from the Centre on the issue.