Cultural activists in Cox’s Bazar staged a song-and-poetry protest on Friday against the defacement of a portrait of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.
The protest programme, titled ‘Shatakonthe Rabindra-Nazrul’, was organised at the Cox’s Bazar Central Shaheed Minar in the afternoon through a joint initiative of cultural organisations in the district.
The programme began with the national anthem. Artists then performed songs based on the works of Tagore and national poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, including Tagore’s Sankochero Bihwalata Nijeri Apoman, Sankoter Kalpanate Hoiyo Na Mriyoman and Nazrul’s Dao Shourjo, Dao Dhoirjo, Hey Udaar Nath, Dao Pran. Poetry recitations were also held.
The organisers said smearing ink on Tagore’s portrait could not erase his creations. Rather, they said, such acts exposed the ignorance and narrow-mindedness of those responsible, stressing the need to protest through cultural activities.
Ashraful Huda Siddiqui Jamshed, president of Jhinukmala Khelaghar Asar, said defacing the poet’s portrait did not harm Tagore but humiliated those who had done it.
“Such acts are intended to destabilise society and the country. But those who love Tagore resist this discord through music,” he said.
Sourav Dev, general secretary of Udichi Cox’s Bazar, said he did not want those arrested over the incident to serve jail terms. Instead, he said they should be given the opportunity to read Tagore’s literature.
“They did these things without reading Tagore. Music, poetry and creativity cannot be judged through barbed-wire fences at borders. These creations are like birds that fly across the world,” he said.
Dev added that such acts exposed the limitations of people who could not accept these creative works.
Manik Mubarak, general secretary of Satyen Sen Shilpigoshthi, said forces opposed to the Liberation War emerged in different forms and often revealed their ignorance through such actions.
“Our protest is through music. We have expressed our protest through the tunes of Rabindranath and Nazrul,” he said.
Subimal Pal Panna, president of the district Khelaghar, said no creation could be destroyed by smearing ink on it. Such acts occurred when communalism took root in people’s minds, he said.
Cultural activist Kanan Barua Bishal said people became more enriched the more they embraced great works of art and literature. Failing to embrace the works of the world poet might be an individual’s failure, but it mattered little in the broader context, he said.
The organisers said the event aimed to express cultural resistance to intolerance and similar acts through Tagore’s and Nazrul’s songs and poetry.
Cox’s Bazar Report
Photo: Abdu Rashid Manik
