The first-ever ‘Kamal Mela’ organised by the BJP kicked off yesterday evening in Durgapur industrial city in a bid to reach out to the ‘untouched’ Bengali voters and foster Bengali culture ahead of the Assembly polls. The effort, as seen from the above highlighted points, however smacked of gross anomalies that left many surprised, among them intellectuals, litterateurs and music lovers.
The 5-day mela or fair is being held at the Rajiv Gandhi Maidan here and was inaugurated by the party’s newly appointed national chief Nitin Nabin yesterday. The party is trying hard to penetrate the Bengali mindset but in the process is committing one blunder after another. The latest ‘massacre’ unfolded at the Kamal Mela.
The entry path to the venue is adorned on both sides with large photographs of legendary women from Bengal. Kamala Dasgupta’s photo is on the first righthand box of the entrance gate but the caption below it says the photograph is that of Firoza Begum, raising several visitors’ eyebrows.
Kamala Dasgupta was born in Bikrampur, Dhaka, in the then Bengal Presidency on 11 March, 1907. In 1930, she left home and later joined the freedom movement. The revolutionaries had assigned her as their weapons in-charge. She was arrested by the British police several times. Firoza Begum, on the other hand, was born on 28 July, 1930 in Faridpur, also in the Bengal Presidency. She became a prominent Nazrul Geeti exponent and married singer, composer and lyricist Kamal Dasgupta.
“The BJP organisers, with their poor knowledge about Bengal, must have made the mistake. Firoza Begum has long been a popular singer. This mix-up made it clear that they know nothing about either Kamala Dasgupta or Firoza Begum,” said writer and composer Ranajit Guha. Kazi Nazrul University’s Nazrul Research Centre director Somnath Mukherjee said: “Google dependence possibly has caused the mess. The search engine placed photograph of Kamal Dasgupta’s wife Firoza Begum when they were trying to find Kamala Dasgupta. They needed to verify this before public display.”
The organisers were visibly embarrassed with the anomaly. BJP leader Chandrasekhar Banerjee, one of the key persons, said: “It’s very unfortunate. An agency was assigned to look after the art and decorations of the fair ground. We, however, needed to check their work.” BJP’s spokesperson Debjit Sarkar instructed the party men to rectify the irregularity.
Meanwhile, BJP national president Nitin Nabin addressed the cadres at another podium adjacent to the Mela ground, where he said: “Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore had established first Ashram in modern India. He inspired the natives to wage war against anarchy and was conferred the Nobel Peace Prize.” Tagore, as we all know, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 for his profoundly sensitive verses in ‘Gitanjali: Song of Offerings.’
Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bengal’s rebel poet, was born in Churulia village in the West Burdwan district on 24 May, 1899. His picture has not been placed among the famous individuals from Bengal, like singer Kishore Kumar and actor Uttam Kumar. Chandrasekhar explained: “We have named the main stage for cultural programmes as ‘Rabindra-Nazrul Manch’. Also, our party’s national president referred to Kazi Nazrul in his inaugural address.”