Rabindranath Tagore’s house attacked in Bangladesh, BJP slams Yunus government

The ancestral home of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, known as Rabindra Kacharibari, in Bangladesh’s Sirajganj district, was attacked and vandalised by a mob on Tuesday. The attack, which targeted the auditorium and other parts of the heritage site, vandalising window panes, doors, and furniture, was triggered by an altercation between a visitor and the staff over a motorcycle parking fee on Sunday (June 8), according to media reports. Reacting to the mob attack on the mansion, the BJP has reacted strongly. BJP MP Sambit Patra alleged it was a “preplanned attack” by radical groups, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefazat-e-Islam Bangladesh.

BJP MLA and West Bengal’s Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, said that the incident was “an attack on our shared heritage, our identity, and our values”.

Following the attack, authorities in Bangladesh shut down the site and formed a probe panel to investigate the incident.

A case was lodged on Wednesday (June 11) against 50–60 individuals, including 10 named accused, in connection with the mob attack on the historic site, reported the Dhaka-based Daily Star.

Rabindra Kacharibari, literally meaning “Tagore’s estate office home”, was where Rabindranath Tagore’s family oversaw their estate in Sirajganj’s Shahzadpur upazila. Now the mansion serves as a memorial museum. The mansion, purchased by Rabindranath Tagore’s father, was visited by the poet multiple times, during which he stayed and wrote parts of several of his plays.

TAGORE’S BANGLADESH MANSION ATTACKED BY MOB

On June 8, Bangladeshi expatriate Shah Newaz visited the Kacharibari with his family, where he got into an altercation with an employee at the entrance over a motorcycle parking fee, Bangladeshi daily New Age reported.

Newaz bought an entry ticket for the museum and paid for motorcycle parking but wasn’t given a receipt. When a staff member at the main gate asked for it, and he couldn’t produce one, a scuffle broke out. Newaz was then taken to the office by the staff and the custodian, where he was allegedly beaten over the dispute, according to the United News of Bangladesh.

Newaz was allegedly locked up in an office room and physically assaulted, according to the New Age report. Following the assault, local BNP leaders rescued him.

Angered by the incident, locals staged a protest by forming a human chain on Tuesday.

Protesting the assault on Newaz, a group of miscreants stormed the Rabindra Kacharibari and ransacked its auditorium, vandalising window panes, doors, and furniture, reported the United News of Bangladesh.

During the mob attack, the director of the institution was also assaulted.

BJP SLAMS BANGLADESH’S YUNUS GOVT OVER TAGORE MANSION ATTACK

Taking cognisance of the mob attack on Rabindranath Tagore’s ancestral home in Bangladesh, BJP MP Sambit Patra said it was not just an attack on a monument, but on India’s cultural soul and Tagore’s inclusive philosophy. Calling it a “preplanned” act by radical groups like Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefazat-e-Islam, Patra slammed the interim government of Muhammad Yunus over its “response to the incident”.

He also urged the global community to unite in condemning the incident.

“As per sources, what we are getting to know is that the attack that happened on the ancestral house of Rabindranath Tagore (in Bangladesh) is a message to us. It was a preplanned attack by Jamaat-e-Islami and Hefazat-e-Islam. It is a declared museum and holds the originality of India and our history and culture,” Patra said on Thursday, adding that the BJP has taken the matter “very seriously and with utmost sensitivity”.

“I want to address three points with responsibility, that the [Bangladesh] interim government of Muhammad Yunus, is not showing good behaviour or any response. There has been no investigation, leaving a poor message… As BJP’s spokesperson, I strongly condemn the behaviour of the Bangladesh government,” added Patra.

Sambit Patra further said, “Rabindranath Tagore is no ordinary personality. An attack on his house is an attack on his ideas. We appeal to the global community to unite against this act. This is the BJP’s call, a party that believes in inclusiveness. We urge all nations that value morality, creativity, and culture to come together and strongly condemn what has happened today in Bangladesh”.

BJP MLA and West Bengal’s Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, called the incident an attack on the “sacred legacy of most precious Kobiguru Rabindranath Thakur”.

He alleged that “a mob led by the BNP and the Chhatra Shibir” vandalised the historic mansion.

“This shameful and utterly disgraceful act of destruction targeted a site that embodies Bengal’s cultural soul and Tagore’s universal message of humanity. Windows shattered, furniture ruined, and a global icon’s memory insulted,” he wrote on X.

Bangladesh’s Department of Archaeology has constituted a three-member committee to investigate the mob attack, news agency Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha reported.

The custodian of the Kacharibari, Mohammad Habibur Rahman, said the museum was being temporarily closed to visitors due to “unavoidable circumstances”. The situation at Kacharibari is under the department’s surveillance, and the committee has been directed to submit its report within the next five working days.