The CPM has invited Bangladeshi Rabindrasangeet artiste Rezwana Choudhury Bannya as a “special guest” for an event to send across the message that the happenings across the border should not cloud people-to-people ties.

Choudhury confirmed she had been invited to the event — the inauguration of the Jyoti Basu Centre for Social Studies and Research in New Town, to be held on January 17, the former chief minister’s 15th death anniversary.

“They have invited me; I am in Calcutta now,” she told The Telegraph.

The invite comes at a time of political turmoil in Bangladesh, marked by allegations of attacks on minorities and anti-India rhetoric, following the ouster of Sheikh Hasina and the formation of an interim government led by Muhammad Yunus.

Choudhury is known to be close to Hasina at a personal level.

“She is a student of Kanika Bandyopadhyay and a bridge between the two Bengals through Rabindrasangeet and Santiniketan,” CPM state secretary Mohammad
Salim said.

Born in Rongpur in then East Pakistan, Choudhury had joined Visva-Bharati as a student in 1975, receiving guidance from Rabindrasangeet legends like Shailajaranjan Majumder, Santidev Ghosh, Kanika Bandyopadhyay and Neelima Sen. She returned to Dhaka in 1981 as a fine arts postgraduate from Visva-Bharati.

CPM insiders said the choice of a Bangladeshi singer was deliberate — the party wanted to counter the “rhetoric of hatred” being spouted by Rightwing forces in both Bangladesh and India.

Salim said Choudhury had accepted the invitation.

“Jyoti Basu always wanted solidarity and friendship within the country and among countries. Today, Bangladesh is going through a crisis. As in India, fundamentalist forces in Bangladesh are attacking liberal voices,” Salim said.

“Adding to it, the ruling cliques in both countries are trying to pit people against people. This has to be resisted. Inviting Rezwana Choudhury Bannya is our way of making a statement against the hatred….”

Salim added: “Rezwana Choudhury Bannya connects the three dots — Jyoti Basu, CPM and Rabindrasangeet.”

Although the Narendra Modi government has been communicating with the new regime in Bangladesh, Bengal leaders of the BJP castigated the CPM for inviting Choudhury.

“There was no need to call a singer from Bangladesh, a country where extremists are threatening to capture Calcutta,” former state BJP president Dilip Ghosh said.

“At a time when anti-Indian slogans are being raised in Bangladesh and Hindu minorities are being tortured, inviting a Bangladeshi singer is tantamount to going against the country.”

Responding to the attack from Ghosh, Salim said: “The CPM’s politics is irrespective and independent of what the RSS, BJP or TMC says.”

CPM leader Rabin Deb said singer Iman Chakraborty too was scheduled to perform at the event.

Hindutva forces have been known to prevent cultural collaborations with artistes from countries they have grievances against, although Calcutta is yet to witness such incidents. On October 8, 2015, a concert by Pakistani ghazal legend Ghulam Ali had to be cancelled in Mumbai after the Shiv Sena threatened to disrupt the event, citing the Kashmir dispute and cross-border firing. The concert was being held to pay tribute to the deceased ghazal maestro, Jagjit Singh.

A few days later, the Sena forced the cancellation of an Indo-Pak Sufi rock concert in Ahmedabad that was to feature Pakistan’s Mekaal Hasan Band.