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New Delhi :Union Home Minister Amit Shah on December 20, 2020, said that Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, Visva Bharati, and Shantiniketan, have always been centers of attraction in India and abroad.
Addressing the faculty, students and intellectuals at Visva Bharati University at Shantiniketan in West Bengal on December 20, Shah said that whether it be the new ideas in the country’s cultural heritage, art and tradition, or the freedom struggle, Bengal has been 50 years ahead of the times than other parts of the country in every aspect.
The Union Home Minister said that Visva Bharati is going to complete its 100 years. There must have been some ideas at the time when it was founded, and now, on the completion of 100 years, there should be an effort to renew Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore’s ideas from this institution. He said that Shantiniketan and Visva Bharati have contributed to the framework of the education system in the country.
Shah said that this journey that started from a Brahmacharya Ashram in 1901 has contributed a lot to the Cultural Heritage of India. He said that Gurudev said that the purpose of education is to make the person fearless by thinking beyond all limits of narrowness. Viswa Bharti’s journey will be considered successful only if the ideas emanating from here will change our education system as per the mantra given by Gurudev Ravindra Nath Tagore.
Shah also said that the purpose of education is to groom personalities who will break free of luxurious life, attachment and all kinds of social bindings in search of peace and cultivate such minds whose quest to know the truth never stops.
The Union Home Minister said that the Visva Bharati has given the nation several people who have excelled in various fields. In the hundredth year of Visva-Bharati, we should take a pledge that this tradition will not stop and after 50 years, when we will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Visva Bharati, we should aim to nurture at least ten people who excel in various fields and instil Gurudev Tagore’s ideas across the country and make them a part of life and society, according to a PIB release.
Shah said that many sons of Bengal contributed significantly in the country’s deveopment. Many people like Raja Rammohan Roy, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Sri Aurobindo, Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and Subhash Chandra Bose worked to enrich India’s heritage during the 19thcentury renaissance.
The impact of Gurudev Tagore’s ideas and the greatness of his personality can be known from the fact that people of two different ideologies – from Mahatma Gandhi to Subhash Chandra Bose, both took inspiration from Gurudev Tagore, Shah said and added that this shows the range of Gurudev Tagore’s ideas.
Shah also said that Gurudev Tagore is the only great person in the world whose two compositions are being used as national anthem in two countries. This proves how enormous is the canvas of Gurudev’s thoughts, culture, ethics and arts. The Union Home Minister said that Visva Bharati has always strived to rise above caste, religion, and class to deliver the message of humanity.
He said that the Gurudev, besides penning a voluminous repository of prose and poetry, also managed such a large institution which is certainly admirable and once again the time has come to advance Tagore’s thinking. Visva Bharati has given many scholars to the country. Many people including Mahasweta Devi, Nandlal Bose, Gayatri Devi, Satyajit Ray and Vinod Bihari Mukherjee have done remarkable work in different fields. Today let us resolve that this tradition will not stop, Shah added.