Harsh Vardhan calls Tagore ‘Sir’, says slip of tongue
Krishnendu.Bandyopadhyay@timesgroup.com
Kolkata: 10.15.2018
Rabindranath Tagore, who renounced knighthood to protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre 99 years ago, was referred to as “Sir Rabindranath Tagore” on his 157th birth anniversary in Kolkata in the course of a speech by Union environment and science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday.
Several members of the audience who were listening to the speech gasped in disbelief. When asked, the minister told TOI that it might have been a “slip of the tongue”.
“I have great admiration for Gurudev and I got a little emotional while praising the great men Kolkata produced. I cannot recollect in my conscious memory whether I called Tagore Sir or not. But what happened was definitely inadvertent,” he said.
The minister heaped praise on Tagore and other luminaries after inaugurating four galleries, three belonging to the Zoological Survey of India and one to the Botanical Survey of India, at the Indian Museum, along with Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi.
However, his use of the word “Sir” did not go unnoticed. Indian Museum officials were taken aback.
“We are surprised because he is otherwise very thorough about the city and its contribution to freedom movement,” a senior Indian Museum official said.
Tagore expert Amrita Sudhan Bhattacharya, explaining the probable reason for the gaffe, said: “Tagore accepted knighthood and then denounced it. The minister must have been confused.”
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in April 1919. There is a growing demand in India to seek a formal apology from the British government before its centenary.
Krishnendu.Bandyopadhyay@timesgroup.com
Kolkata: 10.15.2018
Rabindranath Tagore, who renounced knighthood to protest against the Jallianwala Bagh massacre 99 years ago, was referred to as “Sir Rabindranath Tagore” on his 157th birth anniversary in Kolkata in the course of a speech by Union environment and science and technology minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday.
Several members of the audience who were listening to the speech gasped in disbelief. When asked, the minister told TOI that it might have been a “slip of the tongue”.
“I have great admiration for Gurudev and I got a little emotional while praising the great men Kolkata produced. I cannot recollect in my conscious memory whether I called Tagore Sir or not. But what happened was definitely inadvertent,” he said.
The minister heaped praise on Tagore and other luminaries after inaugurating four galleries, three belonging to the Zoological Survey of India and one to the Botanical Survey of India, at the Indian Museum, along with Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi.
However, his use of the word “Sir” did not go unnoticed. Indian Museum officials were taken aback.
“We are surprised because he is otherwise very thorough about the city and its contribution to freedom movement,” a senior Indian Museum official said.
Tagore expert Amrita Sudhan Bhattacharya, explaining the probable reason for the gaffe, said: “Tagore accepted knighthood and then denounced it. The minister must have been confused.”
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place in April 1919. There is a growing demand in India to seek a formal apology from the British government before its centenary.
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