West Bengal Govt Celebrates Tagore Birth Anniversary in Low- Key Manner

Kolkata, May 8 (PTI) The West Bengal government on Friday celebrated the 159th birth anniversary of poet Rabindranath Tagore here in a subdued manner amid the coronavirus triggered lockdown.

The celebrations held at Cathedral Road in front of the Rabindra Sadan, a state-owned auditorium, were supervised by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Singers and elocutionists perform every year on this day in an open-air stage there.

"Rabindranath Tagore is our inspiration. He is our idol. We cannot organise the (birth anniversary) celebrations in the open because of the lockdown. So, we have decided that singers will perform from their homes and that will be beamed here live," Banerjee said.

The chief minister inaugurated the programme by singing a Tagore song along with Indranil Sen, a singer turned minister, before a portrait of the Nobel laureate.

Performance of artistes such as Pramita Bandyopadhyay, Sriradha Bandyopadhyay and Nachiketa was live streamed.

Only a handful of administrative and police officials were present at the programme where social distancing norms were observed. People were barred from attending it because of the ongoing lockdown.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)