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Tagore's medal theft a conspiracy
by Gautam Ghosh

         Kolkata: The daring theft of Gurudev Rabindra Nath Tagore's Nobel medal and citation, along with a number of other valuable personal objects, from Visva Bharati's museum at Santiniketan yesterday is being considered as part of a process to systematically destroy the poet's legacy in the CPI(M)-ruled state. The theft, which sent shock-waves throughout the country and abroad, has belied Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's oft-repeated claim that West Bengal continues to be "an oasis" compared to other states as far as the law and order scenario is concerned. The unfortunate incident is also fast turning into a major issue in the coming Lok Sabha polls with Trinamul Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee lashing out against "a thoroughly incompetent Left Front government" and demanding a CBI probe into it. The ruling Marxists, on their part, have adopted a defensive posture, but intend to put the blame squarely on the human resources development ministry since Visva Bharati happens to be a Central university.

          The CPI(M) has also been accused of distorting Tagore's writings in Bengali text-books meant for the Madhyamik examinees. The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education recently decided to make "necessary changes" in the poet's writings appearing in the prescribed text-books "in order to help the students learn the language with comparatively greater ease." However, in the process the students are being forced to memorise a distorted version of some selected poems and prose pieces penned by Tagore. The matter has already raised a hue and cry among a section of Bengal academicians who consider the CPI(M)- controlled education department's decision as "ethically unjust and culturally disastrous." The decision has not spared the writings of other pillars of Bengali literature like Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Sarat Chandra and even Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar.

          There has also been a move to destroy the natural environment in Santiniketan by planned attempts to build a huge housing-cum- commercial complex near Visva Bharati by the Sriniketan Santiniketan Development Authority (SSDA) along with a private promoter. Environmentalists feel the project will be a blot on the pollution-free atmosphere in Santiniketan which used to give immense pleasure to the late poet. A number of intellectuals, including Mahasweta Devi, noted writer and winner of the Gyanpith award, are already up in arms against the project sponsored by the SSDA of which CPI(M) MP from Bolpur and the party's leader in the dissolved Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee happens to be the chairman. They feel the project aims at "destroying Tagore's legacy on the plea of developing the area." The issue has already assumed national dimensions with the firebrand writer drawing President APJ Abdul Kalam's attention to it. The Trinamul Congress too has launched a forceful campaign against a beleaguered Chatterjee over the issue.

          Yesterday's theft has especially dealt a body-blow to Chatterjee because of his close relationship with the present Visva Bharati Vice-Chancellor Sujit Kumar Basu. The latter has been supporting the CPI(M) leader in his on-going fight against Mahasweta Devi and her associates over the construction of the housing complex and has already given Visva Bharati's green signal to it. According to informed sources, the Centre and the human resources development ministry in particular have taken a serious view of the security lapse at Visva Bharati which resulted in the theft. The Vice-Chancellor, who had earlier assumed the responsibility for the overall maintenance and security of the Tagore museum, is believed to be under extreme pressure to resign as a fallout of the incident. A section of students, owing allegiance to Trinamul Congress, has started a dharna at Visva Bharati demanding Basu's resignation. The Vice-Chancellor may be forced to put in his papers if the authorities and the police fail to recover the stolen articles at an early date.

          Aware of the Opposition parties' move to make the theft a major poll issue, the ruling Marxists have already initiated a damage control exercise. The Students Federation of India, the CPI(M)'s student front, today organised demonstrations in front of different colleges, demanding a high-level inquiry into the theft and immediate arrest of the culprits. The CPI(M) also feels there may be "a political conspiracy behind the theft to malign the Left Front government on the election eve." The party has, therefore, kept its options open and intend to pass the buck to the Centre, saying the district police was not directly responsible for the museum's security as it was being managed by the Visva Bharati authorities.

Tohra recovering in hospital (Go To Top)

Amritsar: There was slight improvement in the medical condition of Gurcharan Singh Tohra, the chief of Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), a day after he had suffered two heart attacks simultaneously. According to Manjit Singh Calcutta, the SGPC secretary, doctors had confirmed that Tohra's heart beat and blood pressure were slowly returning to normal. He also said that the veteran Sikh leader was conscious and had been able to recognize the people who had come to visit him. The septuagenarian leader was due to participate in the cleaning of the sacred tank of the Golden Temple, the Sikh community's holiest shrine in here, when he was rushed to hospital after complaining of severe chest pain. "The eco-cardiogram shows that he has suffered a major heart attack. He is on life support system, he is very serious and right now we cannot make any statement," Cardiologist Dr. H.P. Singh had said on Thursday. Tohra along with former Chief Minister of Punjab, Prakash Singh Badal, was to attend a public rally of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani here on Friday. Tohra had survived a severe heart attack in October last year.

Bofors case: Court frames charges against Hindujas (Go To Top)

          New Delhi: A Delhi court on Friday framed cheating and conspiracy charges against the three Hinduja brothers for their alleged role in the Rs 65 crore Bofors payoff case. CMM Reena Singh Nag also framed forgery charges against the Swedish gun company, AB Bofors. The matter will come up for further hearing on May 12. The Delhi High Court had recently quashed corruption charges against the three brothers and directed the case to be transferred from a Sessions Court to a Magistrate for trial.

Anand Sharma of Congress elected to Rajya Sabha (Go To Top)

          Shimla: All India Congress Committee (AICC) member and Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma was on Friday elected to the Rajya Sabha from Himachal Pradesh. He defeated former minister and BJP candidate Radha Raman Shastri by an impressive margin of 31 votes. Sharma polled 49 votes, while his rival polled 18 votes. A total of 67 votes were cast with Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) chief Sukh Ram abstaining from voting in the 68-member Vidhan Sabha. This is for the second time that Sharma has been elected to the Rajya Sabha. He was first elected from the hill state in 1985. The seat is held by HVC member Anil Sharma, son of former Union Minister Sukh Ram, falls vacant on April 2. The result shows that five Independent MLAs voted for the Congress, which has a strength of 43 in the House. The party had a few days back claimed the support of five Independents and had declared them as attached members of the party. On the other hand, all 16 of the BJP members voted for their party candidate, and in addition its contestant Shastri received two more votes. There was no cross voting as the result shows.

Trishul testfired on second day (Go To Top)

          Balasore (Orissa): Trishul, the surface-to-air missile, was successfully test-fired for the second consecutive day on Friday from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipore- on-sea, about 15 km from here. The missile was test-fired to prove its accuracy and other parameters, said the ITR sources. The missile, especially designed for sea skimming exercise for the Indian navy, was test-fired from a mobile launcher at 1102 hours ITR sources said. The short-range, indigenously built missile was also test-fired from the ITR yesterday at 1450 hours. ITR sources said that the solid fuel-propelled missile has a battle role for all the three forces with a range from 300 metres to 9 km. The three metre-long missile, they said, moves at a supersonic speed and has a command line of flight guidance system. It also has a very sensitive radar altimeter and could skim over the sea at a very low altitude.

Madhumita murder: Madhumani's bail rejected (Go To Top)

          Lucknow: The Special CBI court rejected the bail application of Madhumani Tripathi, wife of legislator Amarmani Tripathi and prime accused in the sensational Madhumita Shukla murder case, here Friday. The suspect had surrendered on Thursday. Special judicial magistrate (CBI court) Digvijay Nath rejected Madhumani's bail plea. Earlier, the court had remanded her to judicial custody for 14 days till April 8 yesterday. It also extended the judicial remand of the other accused in the case, Samajwadi Party MLA Amarmani Tripathi and three others till April 8. Meanwhile, the CBI is slated to move Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court to secure police remand of Madhumani after their plea was rejected by the lower court yesterday. The investigating agency had urged the special CBI court here that since Madhumani was evading arrest since December last, it was necessary to interrogate her even as it pleaded for five days police remand.

          Earlier, Madhumani had applied for three weeks' time to surrender on March 23, but the Lucknow Bench had turned down her plea which forced her to surrender yesterday. Madhumita was shot dead at her Paper Mill Colony residence here on May 9 last year. CBI investigations and DNA test of Amarmani had indicated that the 24-year-old poet was carrying a seven- month-old foetus allegedly fathered by the former minister. Peeved over the liaison, Madhumani had planned Madhumita's killing. The two alleged killers of Madhumita - Santosh Rai alias Satya Praksh Tripathi and Prakash Chandra Pandey - had confessed before the agency that Amarmani's maternal cousin Rohit Chaturvedi had allegedly paid them Rs two lakh to carry out the killing at the behest of Madhumani. The CBI had arrested Amarmani on September 22 after his DNA sample matched with a sample from Madhumita's foetus.

US to send 2,000 marines to Afghanistan (Go To Top)

          Washington: Nearly 2,000 US marines with special operations training will be sent to Afghanistan soon to assist the 11,000 US troops already in that country hunting for Al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives. Pentagon officials were quoted by the News as saying on Thursday that a majority of the marines would be moved to Afghanistan from warships in the Gulf. A foreign news agency said that marines from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina are currently participating in a week-long naval Expeditionary Strike Group exercise, led by the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp. Meanwhile, American forces deployed in Afghanistan have stepped up operations in the remote, mountainous border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan as part of Operation Mountain Storm. They are on the look out for Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, who is blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, and other key fugitives.