Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday offered to trace Poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel Prize which was stolen more than a decade ago in March 2004 from Rabindra Bhavan at Shantiniketan.
Tagore was the first to win a Nobel Prize in Asia way back in 1913.
Taking a dig at the CBI for failing to find out the Tagore medallion even after so many years Banerjee told an audience in Shantiniketan that she was willing to trace the Nobel Prize because she was emotionally attached to it.
“Much time has been given to the CBI to find out the Nobel Prize but they have failed. Now if they cannot recover it let them hand the job back to me and I undertake to find out” Banerjee said adding she was taking the vow not because of anything else but “because I am emotionally attached to it.”
Incidentally CBI had also been handling India’s biggest chit fund scam ever that happened in Bengal over a period of time and in which a whole lot of senior Trinamool leaders’ names got embroiled. The case that was handed over to the CBI had still not been solved.
Apart from Tagore’s medallion a number of other artifacts including the citation, Mrinalini Devi’s gold bangles and antique Baluchari saree, Debendranath Tagore’s gold ring were stolen from the museum.
“It is a shame for us to show people a replica of the Nobel Prize and not the real one because that was stolen from here. Whenever the issue is raised I feel ashamed and so I take it upon myself to trace it provided I am given the job,” the Chief Minister who is known for keeping her words and who had promised to bring peace in Jangalmahal and Darjeeling before coming to power and did it after assuming it said.
It is another matter however that the Opposition blames her Trinamool Congress with fomenting trouble in the naxalite-ridden Jangalmahal by joining hands with the ultras. Things naturally fell silent as soon as she came to power they say.
In another development Banerjee who was traveling Birbhum district also asked the police to come down heavily on the criminal elements irrespective of their party colours. “Ilambazar and Nanoor are politically volatile areas and the police have to be on their guard. You must not allow criminals to enter these areas and act against them irrespective of their party colours,” the Chief Minister said.