Poetic politics

Arindam Sarkar

If politicians have a special liking for Rabindra Sangeet, Rabindranath Tagore too was not oblivious to politics. He presided over the Congress session, protested against the Partition of Bengal in 1905 and wrote poems and songs to inspire India’s freedom struggle.

In 1871, at the age of 10, Tagore was stung by patriotism. In 1941, when the Nobel Laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore died, he was still a primary member of the Congress, popular with the communists and a patriot admired by the Hindus and the Muslims alike.

Tagore the humanist, educationist, philosopher, poet and litterateur played a significant role in the political spectrum of his times and still continues to be a favourite with the politicians.

Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 left a deep impact on Tagore. He grew up participating in patriotic festivals like the Hindu Mela and Shivaji Utsav at Jorasanko Thakur Bari. He was associated with the British Indian Association, Indian Association and the Landholders Association – formed by the patriots against the British imperialists before the Indian National Congress was formed in 1885.

During the first Congress session at Bombay in 1885, Tagore lamented that not many Bengalis were present. “Shobai esheche bishan loiya, koi re bangali koi…” Tagore participated in the Congress session of 1886 held at Town Hall in Kolkata and penned: “Amra milechi aaj maayer dake…” It was the opening song of the session. Thereafter, for years Tagore now and then participated in the Congress sessions and the Bengal Provincial Conferences.

In 1896, Tagore composed the music of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s Vande Mataram with the Cathay Company. Tagore sang the poem. Subsequently, 43 musicians such as Jadu Bhatta, Sarla Devi, Ravi Shankar, Hemanta Mukhopadhyay and even AR Rahman have composed music for Vande Mataram. Yet even today, it is the Tagore composition that is played by the Congress.

As the National Movement developed, patriotic songs flowed out of Tagore’s pen. He opposed the Partition of Bengal in 1905. “Banglar mati, Banglar jol. Banglar bayu, banglar fol. Banglar asha, banglar mon, Banglar ghare shoto bhai bon. Ek howk, ek howk, ek howk, hey bhogoban,” sang the poet.

It was in the Pabna Bengal Provincial Conference, Tagore became the president and presented his ideals on village development, cooperative movement and Hindu-Muslim unity that strongly influenced Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Atal Behari Vajpayee and the Communists.

Impressed with Gandhi and to inspire him to lead the National Movement, Tagore penned such songs as: “Jodi tor daak shune keu na ashe, tobe ekla cholo re..,” “Jibono jokhon shukhiya jaye, karuna dharaye esho…” and “Amra keu ba dhoni, keu ba nishyo, Gandhi maharajer shishya…”

Gandhi, Nehru and Indira frequently visited the poet at Visva Bharti in Shantiniketan. It was Tagore who gave the title of Mahatma, Rituraj and Priyadarshani to Gandhi, Nehru and Indira respectively. He gave the title of Deshbandhu to CR Das and Deshnayak to Subhash Chandra Bose. And after the Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919 when Tagore relinquished his knighthood, Indian politicians were all admiration for him.

After 1930 when Tagore visited USSR, he praise in Russiar Chithi their education, health and housing system, Indian communists such as SA Dange, Muzzaffar Ahmed, PC Joshi, Somnath Lahiri, Ronen Sen became his admirers. While BT Ranadive, EMS Namboodiripad and AK Gopalan closely followed his interactions with Roman Rolland and Leo Tolstoy. 

In 1940, a sick Tagore used to enquire about the World War II and the Red Army from PC Mahalanobis who used to read him out the newspapers.“Parbe orai parbe..,” said Tagore about the USSR and the allied forces fighting Hitler’s fascist forces.

Former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu was a Tagore admirer and his successor, former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is known for his erudition on Tagore’s works. It is former Speaker of the Lok Sabha Somanth Chatterjee who ensured that a life-size statue of Tagore was installed inside the Indian Parliament.

“Akash bhora, surjya tara, biswa bhora praan…”, “Krishna koli ami torei boli…” and “Tora jeja bolish bhai, amar shorir horin chai…” are popular with the communists. So is the poem Dui Bigha jomin…

No less is the contribution of Bangladeshi communists such as Begum Safiya Kamal, Prof Shamsur Rahman, Mauala Bhasani, Prof Muzzafar Ahmed, Moni Singh and Begum Motia Chowdhury in popularising Rabindranath Tagore in their country.

President Pranab Mukherjee loves listening to Rabindra Sangeet and has memorized most of the Tagore poems. Former Union Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi before falling ill often quoted Tagore’s philosophy and poems in his speeches. Former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao was a keen follower of Tagore. And it is said, Narasimha Rao was one non-Bengali who had read more on Tagore than many Bengalis.

For Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Rabindra Sangeet is her source of sustenance when she is hopping from one meeting to another or resting. She listens to Tagore songs on the move. She also loves to sing and play Tagore songs on her synthesizer. “Boro asha kore eshechi go firaye o na…” and “Bhagowan tumi juge juge dut pathaye o cho bare, bare..” come naturally to her.

The poet strongly influenced Jan Sangh’s SP Mukherjee, BJP’s former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajayee, former Union Ministers LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. All excellent political orators, they profusely quoted “Gurudev” in their unmatchable style to mesmerize the crowds.

  

When Tagore died in 1941, Kazi Nazrul Islam paid a tribute in his poem Robi Hara. But Tagore is far from lost. His philosophy of universal harmony and rural development; and the melodious, thought-provoking songs still linger in the minds of the politicos.