Buddha, the bard

So when the media asked him about Jagmohan Dalmiya8217;s victory in the Cricket Association of Bengal elections despite Bhattacharjee8217;s backing for Kolkata8217;s police commissioner, he took refuge under Shakespeare saying: 8220;There are more things in heaven and earth8230;8221;

On another occasion, asked what would happen the next day 8212; when a bandh had been scheduled 8212; Bhattacharjee retorted with a quote approximating a line from Browning8217;s Last Ride Together: 8220;Who knows but the world may end tonight?8221;

And yet again, when the media asked him about the Trinamool Congress and the Congress joining hands against the government over the Singur land acquisition and jointly sponsoring a bandh, the chief minister replied with a Biblical reference: 8220;Forgive them, for they know not what they do.8221;

But if Bhattacharjee quotes famous poets freely, he is also ready to spring to their defence. Recently, he got into a spat with the Pondicherry government over its 8220;blatant distortion8221; of some famous lines from Tagore to sell the state8217;s attractions as a tourist destination.

The Pondicherry government had used the poem as part of a tourist brochure titled 8220; A Glimpse of Our Own Pondicherry8221; for the Festival of Pondicherry in Paris 2006. Not just the distortions, the particular publication even made it look as if the poem by the Nobel laureate was a tribute to Pondicherry by giving it a subtitle 8220;Tagore on Pondicherry.8221;

Bhattacharjee was not the only one outraged. His protest found spontaneous support among Tagore scholars who say that the poem Where the Mind is without fear is from a collection of about 100 poems, mostly sonnets, called Naibedya composed in the 1900s.

A large number of these poems reflect the Tagore8217;s concerns about the country and the political astuteness of a statesman who viewed 8220;Knowledge8221; beyond the narrow fragments of self-interest and customs. The poems of Naibedya carry a strong political as well as spiritual message for the country8217;s emerging freedom struggle and liberation.

Bhattacharjee, say the cultural circuit in the state, was more than justified in taking up the cudgels for what he felt was a 8220;highly offensive act of sacrilege.8221; Never mind his party8217;s reservations about Tagore in the early years of Marxist rule in Bengal when the Nobel laureate8217;s writings used as textbooks were withdrawn. In the times of reforms, Tagore8217;s eminence has been restored by the party.

Bhattacharjee, however, has been a cultural connoisseur in his own right. His cultural and literary pursuits have always given him an edge over his counterparts elsewhere. His frequent refuge in the world of poetry, therefore, comes as a reminder to a person behind the person.

He has reverted to his literary self despite his pressing schedule as a chief minister. So, his sudden outburst over the 8220;distortion8221; is founded in his admiration for Tagore. In this particular case, his ire displays the intensity of a feeling as a representative Bengali cultural entity more than that of a political head of a state.