Rabindranath Tagore's ancestral home in Bangladesh ransacked; political row erupts in India

Dhaka: A mob attacked and vandalised the ancestral home of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in Bangladesh's Sirajganj district, leading authorities to constitute a three-member committee to investigate the incident, according to media reports on Wednesday.

On Jun 8, a visitor went to the Kachharibari, also known as Rabindra Kachharibari or Rabindra Memorial Museum, located in Sirajganj district, with his family. There, he got into an altercation with an employee at the entrance over the motorcycle parking fee, bdnews24.com reported.

Later, the visitor was allegedly confined in an office room and physically assaulted. Agitated over the incident, locals held a protest by forming a human chain on Tuesday. Later, a mob attacked and vandalised the auditorium of the Kachhari Bari and beat a director of the institution.

Following the incident, the Department of Archeology constituted a three-member probe committee to investigate the attack, BSS news agency reported.

Following the vandalism, a political row erupted in India.

General Secretary CPI(M) M A Baby took to his official X account and wrote, "Great cultural icons shouldn't be targeted for petty interests."

BJP MP Sambit Patra also commented on the attack by mob and claimed the "behaviour of the Bangladesh interim government of Muhammad Yunus is not proper".

Additionally Patra also questioned West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee's silence on the attack.

Md Habibur Rahman, Custodian of the Kacharibari, told journalists that the authority has temporarily suspended the access of the visitors into the Kacharibari due to “unavoidable circumstances”.

The entire situation of the Kacharibari is under the surveillance of the department and the committee has been asked to submit its report within the next five working days, he was quoted as saying by BSS.

Situated in Shahzadpur in Rajshahi division, Kachharibari is the ancestral home and revenue office of the Tagore family. Rabindranath Tagore created many of his literary works while living in this mansion.