‘We must spread Tagore’s message across all nations’

Kolkata: Reacting to the Nobelprize.org’s gesture, particularly the decision to share “Where the mind is without fear”, historian and former Visva-Bharati VC Rajat Kanta Roy said: “The country today is besieged with problems that make men stoop too low on one hand and bow to injustice on the other. I think this poem is as relevant today as it was when Tagore had written it and translated it into English (in 1912).”Tagore scholar Amitrasudan Bhattacharya said: “This poem has always been and will always remain relevant. It is all the more significant today, when we are passing through a difficult time. And Nobelprize.org has done a great job by sharing this poem for people across the globe. It was not written just for Bengalis, not even only for Indians. It has an international appeal. We should take the responsibility to spread Tagore’s message across all nations, instead of doing politics in his name. I must mention in this context that it is a matter of great shame that the entire body of Tagore’s works is yet to be translated into English.”Visva-Bharati VC Bidyut Chakraborty said: “This is a matter of great pride for humanity, since Tagore was one of most effective exponents of universal humanism and an inspiration to those who stand for human cause, justice and fairness. Instead of conceptualizing Tagore in the worship mould, it is most appropriate to translate his ideas into reality, which is being done by Visva-Bharati, and those who seek to internalise his ideas for fulfilling his unfulfilled ‘ideational’ vision.”
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