AGARTALA, May 9 (TIWN): The 153rd birth anniversary of Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore was observed across the state in a befitting manner on Friday.

 The main programme was held at newly constructed “Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhavan”. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, Anil Sarkar, Vice Chairman of Tripura State Planning Commission, Ranjit Debbarma Chief Executive member of TTAADC. Dr. Prafullajit Sinha, Mayor of Agartala Municipal Corporation, ICA minister Bhanulal Saha, Chief Secretary Dr. S. K. Panda along with all the award winners of ‘Rabindra Puraskar’ were present in the programme. Rabindranath Tagore’s message on  humanism and non-communal ideas need to be disseminated to establish a society based on them. This was the consensus among speakers at this year’s 153rd birth anniversary of the poet, who was the first non-Westerner to get the Nobel Prize.

Chief Minister while speaking at the function said Tagore was an integral part of our culture and tradition. He presented Bengali literature to the world. His works have given adequacy and modernity to Bengali literature.

 “The way his artistic genius blossomed in different branches so did his humanism. He was a patriot and non-sectarian. But if we are to take lessons from his non-communal and humanistic philosophy, he has to be studied at all levels” said Mr.Sarkar.

Assuring the government’s patronage for greater dissemination of Tagore’s ideas, Chief Minister said, “Among the many things that we can learn from Tagore, the most important is to fight adversity by discovering our inner strength.”

Referring to Tagore’s thoughts of rural revitalization, the planning commission vice – chairman said ,” Despite being a landlord, Tagore thought of, and pioneered, many activities  for the poor and landless farmers, which included establishing a cooperative bank and farm to modernize East Bengal agriculture.”

The 14 days long cultural programs will start from evening of May 9 at the big auditorium of Rabindra Bhawan. Eminent artists from Bangladesh, Kolkata, Assam, New Delhi and other parts of the country along with the artists of Tripura will participate in the cultural programs to pay tribute to the Nobel laureate.

The old Rabindra Bhavan was inaugurated on August 15, 1972 by the Chief Minister Sukhamay Sengupta with seating capacity of 755 persons. The foundation stone for present new building was laid on May 9 in the year 2010 and the new Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhavan has been constructed with a cost of Rs. 32.15 crore by the NBCC.

At the last leg of the program, a makeshift dais collapsed and seven artists including Rabindra Sangeet artist Rita Chakraborty had sustained serious injury in her leg. In the new building there are two auditoriums, the big one has seating capacity of 1310 persons and the small auditorium has 411 seating capacity along with art gallery, VIP room and other state-of-art modern facilities. However, many Tripurites attended the program were found discussing about the face of Rabindranath Tagore's statue as it doesn't exactly match with Tagore's face features.Some people felt  that concerned authorities should have done a better job in choosing sculptor and face of Rabindranath Tagore.

Controversy brewing over New Statue of Nobel Laureate Poet Rabindranath Tagore installed in front of Rabindra Satabarshiki Bhawan. Many critics commenting on the missing soft features,shapes from Tagore's face and  striking similarity between Tagore and  Karl Marx. As per some critics, this face of Tagore has more German or western features like Karl Marx and less of  Bengali /Indian features.

Due to sudden collapse of dais, Rabindra Sangeet Artists  were seriously injured