What Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s tweet on poet Sukanta Bhattacharjee’s death anniversary means
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday tweeted a couple of lines written by revolutionary poet Sukanta Bhattacharjee on his death anniversary.
She tweeted the following lines:
বন্ধু, তোমার ছাড়ো উদ্বেগ, সুতীক্ষ্ণ করো চিত্ত,বাংলার মাটি দুর্জয় ঘাঁটি বুঝে নিক দুর্বৃত্ত।
(Abandon your worries, my friend, let your heart be sharp like spear
Bengal is an invincible fortress, the thugs had better beware)
Bhattacharjee has been one of the most popular Bengali poets of the 20th century – his poetry is characterised by its socialist thoughts and rebellion. The poet died young, at the age of 20, in 1947, and most of his works were published after his death.
Former chief minister of Bengal, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, is the poet’s nephew. And, apart from the socialist, revolutionary zeal of the lines, this is what makes the tweet interesting.
Bhattacharjee and Banerjee have been bitter rivals when the Left Front was in power in Bengal and the latter was fighting for the land rights of the poor in Singur and Nandigram. Bhattacharjee had even said once that he was ashamed to utter her name.
But a lot has changed no doubt. In a recent interview with NDTV, chief minister Mamata Banerjee made a brutal attack on the Communists, but said that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was an exception in his party and was the only leader who understood how dangerous the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was.
She has been less attacking on the leader in the recent past and has even visited him at his place when Bhattacharjee was seriously ill.
The message in the lines written by Sukanta Bhattacharjee is loud and clear – and seems to be what Mamata Banerjee wants to say to the BJP, that is trying to gain a foothold over Bengal. She seems to be passing on the message to the BJP leadership that Bengal is an invincible fortress.
Banerjee has been criticised in the past by Left leaders who have accused her of taking up pro-poor policies but not practicing what she preached.
Not too long after her party had formed the government in 2011 – ousting the Left Front government in power – the CPM’s leader of Opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra had said that Mamata Banerjee was trying to be more Left than the Leftists.
And this yet another reason for Banerjee’s tweet to be discussed in the political circles of the CPIM, Trinamool and BJP of West Bengal on Monday.
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