Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday named several stalwarts connected to Birbhum, but missed mentioning Rabindranath Tagore's name.
He was addressing a rally in Suri, barely 34km from the bard's Santiniketan.
"As I am here today, I want to recall poet Joydevji, the author of Geet Govinda, Chandidas ji (a medieval poet from Birbhum's Nanoor). I want to bow down before the Bauls (folk singers) of Birbhum. I also want to bow down before all poets and Kirtnajiyas (performers of the religious songs) of Birbhum. I also want to pay my tribute to Babasaheb Ambedkar on his birth anniversary," Shah said at the beginning of his 22-minute speech addressing around 12,000 people.
Poet Joydev, or Jayadeva, was a 12th-century Sanskrit poet, who was believed to be born in Birbhum's Kenduli village — which falls in Birbhum's Bolpur subdivision and is around 30km from Santiniketan. Joydev became a historical figure for penning Geet Govinda, which describes the relationship among Krishna, Radha and Gopis.
Chandidas was a 15th-century poet, who penned around 1,250 poems related to Radha and Krishna in medieval Bengali. Chandidas was believed to be born in Birbhum's Nanoor, 18km from Santiniketan.
The mention of Joydev's and Chandidas's names by Shah drew loud cheers among the BJP supporters in Birbhum. But there were many who wondered why the Union home minister didn't mention the Bard.
"Birbhum can't be complete without Rabindranath as his contribution to this laterite land is beyond any assessment. One can name several polymaths of Birbhum and the list is reasonably long... But you can't miss Rabindranath, at least while you are in Birbhum. It may be Rampurhat, Suri or anywhere of this soil," said Aditya Mukhopadhyay, a researcher on the cultural history of Bengal, who also penned dozens of books.
Trinamul general secretary Kunal Ghosh said: "The BJP had repeatedly proved its lapses in knowing Bengal properly. Actually, Amit Shah-ji does not have any idea of the demography of the district, its culture and its people. He just uttered the names that BJP leaders had given him..."
