On Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath was a Bhrama, in theory I would rather say. But again, the whole Tagore family were great hypocritical bunch of people. They followed all Hindu rituals in their daily life, observed 'Durga Puja' in their homes and loudly professed 'Bhrama' theories outside their enclaves. You can learn a little bit about it if you just read 'The Myriad-minded Man' by Andrew Robinson / Krishna Dutta. I do not dispute that Rabindranath was a great Bengali intellectual and there is none like him in the Bengali literature. I have also read a lot of his write-ups and even today I listen to his songs now and then because we have none like him.
But it does not make him my idol because he was, the records candidly prove, not a decent man. He was a cruel Zaminder, a communal Hindu and indeed a great devil if we compare him with Bidhasagar. Bidhasagar was the greatest human being Bengal ever produced. Rabindranath deliberately cultivated communalism whereas poor Bankim Chandra got all the blames because he used Muslim characters in his novels to speak against the British. Man like Rabindranath was the cause of division of India and communalism thrived under the hidden blessings of these sorts of men. And you spoke about Nazrul? He was an angel, fully non-communal and hundred percent human.
I assure you that he would not have supported division of Bengal. His nationalism was Bengali nationalism and any good Bengali could admire it. You would hardly find any other literary figure in Bengal so human and so non-communal. He can be safely compared with Bidhasagar. Nevertheless I would not recommend any of his song for adopting as national anthem of Bangladesh on the same ground as I reject Rabindranath's song. None of them believed in Bangladesh and none should be given this honour or dishonour (by snatching their songs and putting it in something in which they did not believe).
This is my personal view. Bangladesh national anthem should be written by someone who believes in Bangladesh's nationalism and territorial integrity. That is common sense and I advocate it for Bangladeshi people. Then, if you ask me if I am a nationalist, I say clearly and loudly 'NO' and I do not like to be a nationalist. I believe in humanity and foolishly wish in Lennon's song 'Imagine'... and will continue believing so till I die.
Now, I will answer your next question on Bengali Nationalism and Bengali Muslim Nationalism. Mr. Rezwan, I put a counter question to answer your question? Why Bangladeshi people voted for Pakistan? On communal reason? Am I right? Let us get settled and cure ourselves first from our communal disease before we take our next step. Again, it is not Pakistanis and Jinnah who created Pakistan but the Indians and Gandhi and Nehru who created Pakistan. Same when Bangladesh was created breaking Pakistan. Chittagoninan Bangla and Dhaka Bangla is not the same and I suppose you mean dialects when you said so. Yes, it is not the same but there is a standard Bangla for all Bengali speaking people.
The most interesting aspect of it is that, in the standard Bengali, people use many words so distinctively different when they communicate with each other and by which you can immediately recognise a person's religious background. That is what I said and I did not say it to incite communalism. Using this sort of words in day to day conversation you would not find anywhere in the world. And personally I believe it a beautiful tryst and I wish we learn to enjoy these differences and thereby enrich ourselves and develop a common pluralistic culture with respect to each other.
I never ask anybody to migrate to West Bengal because he uses 'Jal' and my new friend Mr. Rezwan says 'Pani' for the same word in Bangladesh. I am sorry if you understood so and I apologise for expressing myself so very clumsy way. I think pluralism even in language is not bad, it is rather beautiful and it certainly gives colour in life.
You also mentioned Arab phenomenon. You can also mention same for the 4 Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Island, Norway and Sweden. Culturally and linguistically they are almost the same but still they are different countries. National boundaries rise when a group of people want to build those boundaries. Sure, language and religion play a major role but politics do not always follow the rational path. Bangladesh's national anthem is also a political question. Peoples' wish (mostly a few inflict an idea in peoples' mind as a wish) is also a factor we need to consider. West Bengali people do not like to live with the Bangladeshi people.
They fought relentlessly (Bengali Hindus in this case) when Bengal was divided but the same people never raise a finger (from the Hindu community) to oppose the division of Bengal. Perhaps you know that Fazlul Huq and Sharwardhi wanted united Bengal but Bengali Hindus were pleased to get rid of the then East Bengali Muslims because they knew, if Bengal were not divided, they had to live under Muslim rule in Bengal and they hated even to imagine that idea. Well, all that is past and I wish we learn from History and one day we join together forgetting our disgraceful past and hateful communalism. I also wish that we overcome our communal mentality and respect each other as human being.
Finally on your last suggestion. Yes, as a democrat I will accept with dismay if "majority Bangladeshi people want' Rabindranath's song as the national anthem of Bangladesh. The problem however is, lots of things are imposed on people not only in Bangladesh but in Western world too, without ever asking if people want that something or not. Anyway, this is just the beginning of the discussion, time will decide, Mr. Rezwan, if Rabindranath's song survives as Bangladesh's national anthem in the long run. In this context, Indian people, I would further say, need to re-consider their national anthem too. I do hope you know when and why Rabindranath wrote it. It is disgraceful for India for accepting this terrible poem as their national anthem. Let the people of India know the origin and circumstances on which Rabindranath wrote it and you will see what they do with it.
http://bangladesh-web.com/view.php?hidDate...000000000105540
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