New Delhi, May 20 (Inditop.com) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday said the 150th birth anniversary of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore should place emphasis on spreading his values of pluralism, secularism, universal brotherhood and alternate education and building cultural institutions of lasting impact to commemorate the bard’s prodigious talent.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi was among those who attended the meeting of the National Implementation Committee, chaired by Manmohan Singh, to draft a blueprint to commemorate the birth anniversary in a befitting mannter.
The Committee is headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
“Even though Rabindranath Tagore received worldwide acclaim for his literary works, he was a multi-faceted genius who made important and pioneering contributions to different facets of Indian culture. He was a poet, an author, a composer, a superb visual artist and a philosopher,” the prime minister said.
“I had the privilege of inaugurating an exhibition of Tagore’s paintings at the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi two weeks back. I was humbled by the range and depth of the works that were displayed. I was surprised to learn that Tagore never had any formal training in art and yet was able to create such priceless treasures.”
The prime minister recommended that the focus of the programmes should be on Tagore’s philosophy of pluralism, world peace and universal brotherhood, secularism, alternate education, rural reconstruction and social justice.
The yearlong anniversary celebrations of the poet’s birth anniversary begun countrywide May 7.
Manmohan Singh said said “our tribute should reflect his multi-layered personality and the different strands of his cultural genius”.
“We should use the occasion to create cultural institutions and structures that honour the memory of the great poet, and which have lasting value. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had started a programme of building auditoria and cultural complexes that were named as Rabindra Rangashala, Rabindra Bhavan, Rabindra Manch, Tagore Centre and so on.
“In the 1960s and later in the 1970s, these were among the first visible cultural spaces of independent India. I understand that the Implementation Committee, under the finance minister, is considering the upgradation of some of the older auditoria that were set up as part of the Tagore Centenary Celebrations. The committee would also look into the possibility of establishing new auditoria in cities where there is a genuine need for such complexes,” he said.
Mukherjee said the committee was in favour of creating enduring assets and a visible impact, nationally and internationally, instead of concentrating only on the preservation and perpetuation of Tagore’s heritage.
The committee recommended that Tagore’s literary work should be popularised in all Indian languages for different levels of audience, including for school children, and translated in foreign languages.
It said Tagore’s art should be popularised and those that require conservation should be preserved and exhibited abroad and in India.
The culture ministry is supporting Visva Bharati’s multiple volume publication of his art. The meeting sought proposals from states to translate West Bengal States proposal to renovate Tagore’s ancestral house at Jorasanko in Kolkata.
It also mooted the setting up of zonal Tagore Commemoration Committees in seven or eight important cities, to examine and support local proposals for celebrations.
The committee said for the purpose of better coordination and implementation of the proposals, relevant ministries should be involved to stress in Tagore’s contribution to gender, war against casteism, afforestation, rural development, agriculture and cooperatives.
It suggested that a special prize should be set up to reaffirm Tagore’s bonds with Asian countries and the ICCR should play the role of a facilitator to renew the Nobel Laureate’s bond with the western world and Africa.
Members who attended the meeting and contributed to the discussions included Sonia Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee, External Affairs Minister S.M.Krishna, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, Information and Boadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, ICCR president Karan Singh, chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Culture Sitaram Yechuri and senior ministers from West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Assam.
Several intellectuals including noted filmmakers, writers and culture activists also attended the meeting.
