Rabindra Jayanti celebrated across Bengal

Amid heightened tensions between India and Pakistan, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, speaking on the 164th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, urged the world to rise above narrow personal interests and remain united.

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Taking to her official X handle, the Chief Minister posted a powerful excerpt from one of the Nobel laureate’s most iconic poem: “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high / Where knowledge is free / Where the world has not been broken up into fragments / By narrow domestic walls.”

“On the birth anniversary of Kabiguru Rabindranath Tagore, we offer our heartfelt respect and salutations to our beloved Thakur. Not just on the 25th of Boishakh, but every day, we remember him. In our direction, in our language, in our hopes — he is present in everything! The entire world is illuminated by the light of his creations,” the Chief Minister wrote.

Born on May 7, 1861, Tagore made history in 1913 by becoming the first non-European and the first lyricist to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. This visionary poet, philosopher, and artist passed away on August 7, 1941.