Parties cash in on Tagore’s lasting appeal

CPM has announced a slew of initiatives riding on the bard’s legacy, including a Rs600 crore rural development project named after him—Rabindra Gram Bikas Prakalpa

 From poet to political pawn—that’s what Rabindranath Tagore, India’s most celebrated writer, could turn into ahead of his 150th birth anniversary next year.

It started with railway minister Mamata Banerjee, who also heads West Bengal’s main opposition party Trinamool Congress, announcing in the rail budget for 2010-11 the launch of new train services, including one to Bangladesh, and two museums to commemorate Tagore’s works. Even the new train service to popular pilgrimages called Bharat Tirtha has been named after a famous poem by Tagore.

To steal the thunder from Banerjee’s campaign, the West Bengal government, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM, announced a slew of initiatives riding on the bard’s legacy, including a Rs600 crore rural development project named after him—Rabindra Gram Bikas Prakalpa.

Interestingly, this is the first state government project in West Bengal that has been named after the poet, who, according to Trinamool Congress supporters such as painter Shuvaprasanna (who uses only one name), has always been seen by the CPM as a “bourgeois poet”.

Full report here Mint