Union home minister Amit Shah will speak on “Aamader Rabindranath (Our Rabindranath)” here on May 9 to mark Rabindra Jayanti or the poet's birth anniversary, prompting a section of the city's Left-leaning culture clan to hold "counter-event" to the saffron camp's apparent bid to claim him ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Shah’s event is being hosted by Khola Haowa, an organisation helmed by former Rajya Sabha member Swapan Dasgupta and run by a number of persons associated with the Bengal BJP.
The Left-leaning cultural activists have argued that Tagore's philosophy was antithetical to that of the Sangh Parivar.
“Rabindranath stood for peace, harmony and secularism. For the BJP, these words do not even ring a bell. His idea of nationalism is opposed to that of the saffron camp,” said theater-actor-director Joyraj Bhattacharjee, one of minds behind the "protest" event, who has approached Tagore expert Sourin Bhattacharya, among others, to be a part of it.
Dasgupta said Tagore's legacy was big enough to accommodate two events in Calcutta. “Tagore does not belong to any particular dispensation," he said, adding the event had nothing to do with the polls. “Amit Shah has a deep interest in history and culture. He had earlier spoken on Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and this time will speak on Tagore...."
