Why Is India Upset About Demolition Of Satyajit Ray’s Ancestral Home, A Place He Never Lived In? | India News
By Aditya Poojan
The house of Satyajit Ray’s ancestors was finally destroyed. Despite the offer of assistance from the Indian government, the Bangladesh government tears the house on Wednesday morning. Located in MyMensingh, the house was built by Satyajit Ray’s grandfather Upendrakishore Ray Chowdury. One day before the destruction, government officials announced their plans to destroy the building, which pushed India to call on the Bangladesh government to rethink. Western Bengal Prime Minister Mamata Bannerjee said that the decision was not approved in a mission in X. Although India proposed to help protect the Assembly, the Bangladesh government did not want to change its decision. Although Satyajit Ray never visited the house, there are two main reasons for India’s anger over destruction: First, the contribution of Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhur to Bengal literature, and the second tend to destroy the cultural heritage areas of India in Bangladesh.
The house built by Grandpa
Uprendrakishore Ray Chowdhury built the house about a hundred years ago. There were 36 acres of property, settlement rooms, a prayer room, a kitchen, a garden house, a playground, a playground and two separate ponds for Harikishore Ray Chowdhury Road in MyMensingh. Satyajit Ray’s father never lived at home. After the establishment of Bangladesh, the house became the property of the government. In 1989 there was a Shishu Academy (Children’s Academy). By 2007, the house had been abandoned and the academy stopped operations. Later, the house was abandoned, the walls collapsed, the doors and windows were stolen, and extensive vandalism experienced. Government officials said the house would not be repaired and therefore it would be destroyed to build a new building to continue the operations of the Shishu Academy. The Indian government offered to help Bangladesh turn the house into a museum. He proposed to develop the house as a common cultural heritage area between the two countries, but Bangladesh rejected the offer.
BIG FIGURE IN BENGALI LITERATURE
The main reason for India’s emotional connection to the house is the connection of Bengal to the three generation literary and artistic heritage: Upndrakishore, son and famous poet Sukumar and Satyajit Ray. Upendrakishore Ray Chowdury is considered the father of children’s literature in Bengal. He made a remarkable study to popularize science among children through simple language and was considered an important figure of the Bengal Renaissance and an important part of Bengal’s literary heritage. This legacy was moved forward by Sukumar Ray and his grandson Satyajit Ray. While Sukumar Ray Literature is an environment, Satyajit Ray won the Academy Award for Film Making. Although both of them never visited the house in MyMensingh, it was the legacy of their ancestors, and therefore the anger on the destruction in India is right.
‘Anti -Indian feeling’
The second important reason for anger is the last events in which symbols of India were attacked in Bangladesh. Symbols associated with Hindi and Hindustan not only in India, but more and more targeted in Bangladesh. In June of this year, a mafia attacked the house of Rabindranath Tagore’s ancestors in the Sijganj region. Before that, several temples were destroyed during the protests against the Sheikh Hasina government last year and Hindus were attacked. This trend continued even after Muhammad Yunus took part. Satyajit Ray and Rabindranath Tagore are as part of Bangladesh’s cultural heritage as part of India. After the attack on Tagore’s house, the authorities claimed that the mafia was exacerbated due to a dispute on the parking lot. However, the decision to destroy the ancestors of Satyajit Ray was given by the government itself. We may wonder if the government is participating in this anti -Indian thought.
