He is world
reknowned poet of Bangla, who was the first Nobel lauerate from
undivided Bengal during British India. His expertise on diverse
subject matters have earned him the worldwide fame, and placed
him as the crownless King of Bangla culture & literature.
Though countless
research was conducted on Robindronath, but due to the extreme
romantic nature of the Bangalis (of both sides of the border)
his personal life, political views and vissions were very
loosely and lightly discussed. Such shortcomings might have
triggered some criticism from people, who were dismayed by
Robindronath's role on then Bengali society. As the time goesby,
the radical Robindronath fans are facing more and more criticism
by anti Robindronath faction.
The only relation
Robindronath had with East Bengal, was due to his Zamindari.
Though a lot of his excellent work was inspired by the beauty of
E. Bengal's countryside, yet the people was less convincing for
him to write about them. He had regreted it though:
" ....That I was
doing business called Zamindari, busying myself with personal
profit and loss, put me in great shame. From then on, I tried
ways on how to rouse their mind, how to enthuse them to take
care of themselves.... (Tagore, R, Collected Works, Vol. XIV, p.
378) "
The people of East
Bengal during the rule of the British had suffered enormously
because of the discriminatory bias by then Hindu Zamindars.
Details of such mayhem was portrayed by Mir Mosarraf Hossains's
"Jomidar Dorpon", Michael Modhusudan Duttas "Buro Shaliker Ghar
e Ro" and numerous other contemporary writers. That include a
piece by Robindronath himself. But the urban Robindronath never
cared to put any importance on the "Muslim" majority peasants of
then E Bengal in his literature.
Though some
Bangladeshi Robindronath fans enjoy the pleasure to wronglyfully
portray him as the symbol of "secularism", facts say otherwise.
He was an ardent devotee for Bramha Samaj, a hindu faction with
more mordern approach to Hinduism. The pioneer being Raja Ram
Mohan Roy, later scholars like Shami Bibekananda and the whole
Tagore dynasty helped to recruit more followers to stablish it
as an influential entity. (Prothom-Alo by Sunil Gongopadhdhay).
Such blind
allegience towards Robindronath's wrongfully portrayed "secular
image" might have confused our poet late Sufia Kamal to compare
his songs with worshipping. Such wrong conception might also
have encouraged Ms Sufia Kamal to marry her daughter with one Mr
Chakrabarti, thus nonconforming with Bangladesh's social
culture.
For some "unknown"
reason our past and current cultural personalities do posses
similar attitude. Therefore, any cultural program organized by
the mainstream cultural personality includes songs of
Robindronath, as a ritual. Even Dhanmondi lake was named after
him as "Robindro Sorobor". Some of the over enthusiastic
Robindronath fans even declared that, Bangladesh's liberation
was the dream and result of Robindronath. (Robindronath died in
1941: a few years before the partition of India)
History proves
quite the contrary, specialy his stauch support for Bongo Bhongo
Andolon (1905-1911), oppostion towards stablishing Dhaka
Univeristy and communal attitude towards Muslims have made
Robindronath less acceptable among the E Bengal majority.
Here are a few
notes on Robindronath's own political and social views
" Those
Bangladeshis who deny these facts are either die hard fanatics
or supporters of United Bengal (as former slaves often suffer
from the a perpetual sense of devotion or Bhakti for their
former masters – I am NOT making this up, one may check with the
vast literature on social-psychology, cultural anthropology and
history, especially writings by Ranajit Guha and other
“Subaltern” historians.
In view of the above, Tagore’s opposition to the Partition of
Bengal (1905-11) and the Dhaka University proposal (1914-20) had
nothing so “patriotic” about it. He was not at all different
from fellow Hindu Zamindar – Bhadralok who preferred to live in
the urban comfort of Calcutta to the rural discomfort of East
Bengal but by exploiting East Bengali peasants and working
classes as landlords, lawyers and moneylenders. They also
opposed the Partition and any move to establish a university in
Dhaka, which they rightly envisaged, would eventually strip of
their undue privileges and advantages as the hegemons of East
Bengali masses. Calcutta based Hindu lawyers did not want
another High Court in Dhaka, let alone another university to
produce East Bengali Muslim graduates to compete in the
shrinking job market, legal profession and in the arena of
politics. One Fazlul Huq and one Suhrawardy were too much for
them to swallow in the 1930s and 1940s.
In Jamalpur and
elsewhere in greater Mymensingh, Hindu terrorist Swadeshi
volunteers, who took oath at the alter of goddess Kali and sang
Bankim’s anti-Muslim Bande Mataram, attacked Muslim supporters
of the Partition with Ma Kalir Boma (Mother Kali’s Bomb). Sumit
Sarkar has beautifully narrated these events in his History of
the Swadeshi Movement. One should read Nirad Chaudhuri’s
Autobiography of an Unknown Indian and Abul Mansur Ahmed’s Amar
Dekha Rajnitir Panchash Bachhar to find out the truth about the
communal nature of the Swadeshi Movement
(Taj
Hasmi-Muktomona: The Tagor Mania)
Due to either utter
ignorance or cheap emotions or lack of knowledge, some of the
young student leaders (as claimed by Shahjahan Siraj) during our
liberation war have selected "Amar Shonar Bangla" by
Robindronath, as our national anthem.
Late Prof Ali Ahsan
had claimed that due to the " pressure" by the intellectuals of
West Bengal, the exile Bangladeshi Govt had adopted that song as
our national anthem. Though that song was written by
Robindronath as his support towards the radical Hindu activists
of Swadeshi Andolon.
" One should read
Nirad Chaudhuri’s Autobiography of an Unknown Indian and Abul
Mansur Ahmed’s Amar Dekha Rajnitir Panchash Bachhar to find out
the truth about the communal nature of the Swadeshi Movement.
And Kabi Guru Rabindranath was among the ardent supporters of
the Swadeshi Movement. He wrote “Amar Sonar Bangla, Ami Tomay
Bhalobashi” to inspire the supporters of the Swadeshi Movement.
TAJ HASMI: MuktoMona: The Tagore Mania"
So, the demand for
changing our national anthem deserves strong consideration.
The people of Bangladesh have already proven themselves as non
communical and diverse in nature. Yet influenced by the Dada's
accross the border, some of our own intellectuals have been
engaged to prove the contrary. And they are no less notorious
than any radicals, when criticism surfaces against Robindronath
and West Bengal culture. The POP singer Maqsud was threatened to
the fullest extent, because of his "sin" to sing a Tagore song
with mordern musical intruments. And the pro Robindronath and W.
Bengals made it a regular habbit of portraying anyone as
"Communal" who dares to criticize Robi Babu or Dadas.
True that, due to
our landscape and then Govt's biased policy, we once were very
behind in education compared to our neighbors. But after the
stablishment of an independant Bangladesh, things have
dramaticaly changed from the past. And with the scientific and
techonological development, it is much easier to access facts
than any other time.
If some of us still
pursue the path of radicalism on Robindro Prem, then I must feel
pity for them for their ignorance and amnesia.
** A detail
writeup about Robindronath and the social movements can be found
in the following URL: http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/taj_hashmi/tagore110506.htm
