Protest in song and poetry, ‘Rabindra-Nazrul in a hundred voices’ at Cox’s Bazar Shaheed Minar
Photo: Collected
It is in his creations that he remains eternally memorable, revered and enthroned in a seat of respect. His songs, poems and plays transcend the bounds of time and stay awake in the hearts of crores of Bengalis. That is why the protest against the smearing of ink on a portrait of Rabindranath Tagore was expressed through song and poetry. A joint initiative of the district’s cultural organisations arranged this gathering, titled ‘Rabindra-Nazrul in a hundred voices’, at the Cox’s Bazar central Shaheed Minar on Friday afternoon.
The programme began with the rendition of the national anthem. The artistes performed two songs — Rabindranath Tagore’s ‘Sankocher bihwalata nijeri apaman, sankater kalpanate hoiyo na mriyaman’ and Kazi Nazrul Islam’s ‘Dao shourjo, dao dhairjo, he udar nath, dao pran’. There was recitation of poetry at the programme as well.
Ashraful Huda Siddiqui Jamshed, president of Jhinukmala Khelaghar Ashar, said, ‘Smearing ink on the portrait of the world poet does not actually matter to the poet; rather, it is an insult to the person or persons who did it. Nothing happens to Rabindranath because of this. By doing such things they want to destabilise society and the country. But those who love Rabindranath resist the demon through melody.’
Sourav Dev, general secretary of Udichi Cox’s Bazar, said he does not want those arrested over the smearing of ink on Rabindranath’s portrait to serve jail terms; rather, he thinks they should be given the opportunity to read Rabindranath’s literature.
Sourav Dev said, ‘They did these things without reading Rabindranath. Melody, poetry, poetic sensibility — such creative matters cannot be judged by the barbed wire of borders. These things are like birds, they fly all over the world.’
He also remarked that the limitations of those who cannot accept such creations are what find expression in activities of this kind.
Monibar Mobarak, general secretary of the Satyen Sen Shilpigosthi, said the forces opposed to the liberation war appear at various times with various tactics, and often they reveal their own ignorance through activities of this kind.
Subimal Pal Panna, president of the district Khelaghar, said no creation can be destroyed by smearing ink on it; people do such things when communalism makes a nest in their minds.
The organisers said the main objective of the programme was to register a cultural protest against intolerance and activities of this kind through the songs and poems of Rabindranath and Nazrul.
It may be mentioned that on 10 October a few people smeared ink on a graffiti of Rabindranath Tagore in front of the Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy at Segunbagicha in the capital. Police went to the spot at that very time and detained four people, one of whom is a woman.
