What’s common between Rabindranath Tagore and elections? His birthday fell in between the ongoing Lok Sabha polls this year, you say? Good try, but there’s a bigger connection — the poet had once contested an election and even won it!
Rabindranath Tagore, whose birthday was celebrated on Wednesday, had to fight a tough battle to win an election, probably the only one in his life, even eight years after he became the first Nobel laureate from Asia.
In 1921, Tagore was elected as an honorary member of Sadharan Brahmo Samaj, as reported in its annual report, said Aniruddha Rakshit, present secretary of Brahmo Sammilan Samaj. Tagore remained a member till his death in 1941.
“More than 103 years ago, on March 19; 1921, Tagore won the election by 213 votes. He clinched 446 votes, while 233 members voted against him,” Rakshit said.
Brahmo faith, founded by Raja Rammohun Roy alongside Maharshi Debendranath Tagore, father of Rabindranath, is noted for its pronounced monotheism, the belief in a single all-powerful God, and vigorous policy of social and political reforms.
‘Keno Rabindranath ke chai’ campaign was key
Documents show that the election took place on ballot vote after two opposition groups sparred, leading to chaos in the meeting held at 210, Cornwallis Street (now Bidhan Sarani), the then headquarters of Brahmo Samaj. The meeting was earlier deferred thrice, January 22; January 28 and February 26; owing to tough stand-off between the two groups.
Some of the seniors who did not want Rabindranath to become a member argued that he was more Hindu than Brahmo; and the youth group that was supporting him pointed out that Tagore’s works clearly depicted the Brahmo ideology and only he could give a proper direction to the stagnant Brahmo movement. It is interesting to find that the youth group propelled him as their candidate though Tagore was almost 60 at that time. That speaks volumes about Tagore’s deep impact within the youth intellects of that era.
Sukumar Ray TT Archives
Incidentally, the youth group, led by another iconic Bengali author Sukumar Ray and supported by other reputable Bengali intellectuals such as statistician Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, author Amal Home, historian Kalidas Nag, came out with a booklet named Keno Rabindranath ke chai (why we want Rabindranath) where they not only countered the senior group’s opposition of Tagore; but also explained in detail the reasons for supporting the poet thinker. They also involved seniors like scientists Jagadis Chandra Bose and Prafulla Chandra Roy, physician Nilratan Sarkar in their favour who were fond of Tagore.
‘Time is ripe’, claimed the young intellectuals
“The time is ripe when Brahmo Samaj needs to transcend from the era of ‘nay’ to ‘yes’. The writings and messages of Rabindranath have initiated it; and, hence, we want Rabindranath”, reads the booklet further claiming that these were not mere ideologies for Tagore and he practised those in his day-to-day life as well. The group also claimed that Tagore’s ideology of ‘unity in diversity’ was akin to Brahmo Samaj theology countering the claims of some senior rigid members who thought that Rabindranath was “not adequately Brahmo”.
“Brahmo Samaj was earlier split and many in Sadharan Brahmo Samaj might have considered Rabindranath as an outsider. Moreover, there could also be an undercurrent of a complex, getting dwarfed by the stature of Rabindranath, running within few senior members,” said educationist and Tagore exponent Pabitra Sarkar.
Raja Rammohun Roy and (right) Maharshi Debendranath Tagore Wikimedia Commons
Arunendu Bandopadhyay, a Tagore researcher, pointed out that though Rabindranath never directly took part in any political process, including elections, he was not averse to his son Rathindranath participating in one. “Once political leader Deshabandhu Chittaranjan Das told Rabindranath that everybody wanted Rathindranath to become a member of India’s Legislative Assembly and even organised that he could win unopposed from Rajshahi area. While Rabindranath agreed, Rathindranath turned down the offer stating that he had his hand full with the works of Visva-Bharati and was not in a position to spare time as a Legislative Assembly member,” said Bandopadhyay.
“As the parliamentary elections are in progress and the fight for clinching power is all too overpowering, Rathindranath’s words stand as a lighthouse,” said the expert.
