বাংলা 
English 
Finance Minister of the Government of Bangladesh Abul Maal Abdul Muhith has said that world poet Rabindranath Tagore is our consciousness, our inspiration, the national identity and the strength to march of the Bengali, and a weapon of protest. The Bengali nation is most fortunate in having received Rabindranath as the true guide on the right path.
He is the only poet who first presented and introduced Bengali literature to the world stage. His songs and poems still enchant people. Rabindranath was the lighthouse of the Bengali’s non-communal consciousness, a great poetic figure and a man of legend. Kobiguru Rabindranath Tagore will remain blended in the consciousness of the Bengali for all eternity. He said these words yesterday, Tuesday afternoon, as the chief guest at the discussion meeting on the opening day of the three-day programme marking the 157th birth anniversary of the ever-triumphant talent of the monument of Bengali literature, world poet Rabindranath Tagore, organised by the Kushtia district administration at the Shilaidaha Kuthibari in Kushtia under the patronage of the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. The minister further said, in every crisis of ours we have risen by holding the hand of the inspiration of world poet Rabindranath Tagore. In this way Rabindranath showed the Bengali nation the right path. In the sixties, when we came here to hold the programme of his birth anniversary, we were obstructed by the resistance of Pakistani ministers and rulers. That path was not easy. The minister said that this ever-triumphant talent of Bengali literature, steeped in the scent of the soil and air of Shilaidaha, wrote here most of the Nobel-winning Gitanjali itself.
He saw the true face of village Bengal from very close quarters. Rabindranath Tagore was an enlightened figure of Bengali consciousness, one who thought for the welfare of ordinary people and felt their pain at close hand. The influence of culture is blended into our marrow. He said that the compositions of world poet Rabindranath Tagore, today our national anthem, gave the Bengalis courage and strength during the Liberation War. The national anthems of two countries such as India and Bangladesh come from his compositions, which will remain immortal. At the very start of the event, the magistrates of the Kushtia district administration welcomed and greeted the chief guest and the other guests with flowers.
All the guests landed by helicopter at the Shilaidaha Union Parishad helipad at 2:30 in the afternoon. The discussion meeting then began on the stage in the courtyard of the Kuthibari. Chaired by the Minister for Cultural Affairs Asaduzzaman Noor, the event heard a welcome address from acting secretary Mohammad Nasir Uddin Ahmed. A commemorative address was delivered by Professor Dr Abul Ahsan Chowdhury of the Department of Bengali at the Islamic University. Special guests’ speeches were given by Abdur Rouf, member of parliament for Kushtia-4 (Khoksa-Kumarkhali), and Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu MP. The vote of thanks was given by Kushtia Deputy Commissioner Jahir Raihan.
In his special guests’ speech, Information Minister and Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president Hasanul Haq Inu said that Rabindranath is like the sun; he is the lamp of light for the Bengali in darkness. The English tried to hold Rabindranath back; Pakistan banned him. Even today the ghost of Pakistan and the communal forces cannot accept Rabindranath. In the president’s speech, Cultural Affairs Minister Asaduzzaman Noor said that Rabindranath had an enormous influence on the life of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. In any crisis, Bangabandhu would remember Rabindranath and read him. He said that Tagore Lodge, steeped in the memories of Rabindranath and located in Kushtia town, has already been taken under the Department of Archaeology for modernisation. At the same time, a special project has also been undertaken centring on Rabindranath’s kachhari house and charitable medical centre at Shilaidaha.
Then the cultural programme began with the performance of Kobiguru’s song, ‘O you new one, appear once more at the first auspicious hour of birth; may you be revealed, dispelling the mist like the rising sun’. After the discussion meeting, singers who had come from different places filled the Kuthibari courtyard with the melodies of Rabindra Sangeet. Around the three-day Rabindra festival, the Kuthibari grounds resounded with the crowd of devotees and visitors. Countless lovers of Rabindranath came from outside the district, even from West Bengal in India.
Meanwhile, for the first time in the long 18 years since 1990, the observance of the Rabindra anniversary at Shilaidaha at the national level filled the area with festive splendour. From morning the inside and outside of the Kuthibari resounded with the footsteps of Rabindra devotees and visitors from home and abroad. In the bakul grove, by the pond and in the mango grove of the Kuthibari, Rabindra artistes, devotees and admirers wandered about, touching the memories of Kobiguru.
Source with thanks: Arif Mehmud - Daily Andoloner Bazar
