Inaugurating the 89th annual conference of the historic Nikhil Bharat Banga Sahitya Sammelan at ITI Vidya Mandir here on Sunday, President Pranab Mukherjee, speaking in Bengali, said language helps maintain solidarity and diversity among people.
Stating that the sammelan had consistently strived to maintain solidarity with other languages and enrich people, Mr. Mukherjee recounted his long and emotional association with the institution, patronised by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. He said language and literature should facilitate interaction and exchange of ideas among littérateurs and pointed out that language united people when wars were fought over territory and resources.
In his address, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi had mutual admiration for each other and advocated the concept of plurality of nations. “Gandhi and Tagore denounced competition and violence in civilised world.”
Reiterating the influence Tagore had on modern Kannada writers, Mr. Siddaramaiah said most eminent Kannada writers and Jnanpith recipients were deeply influenced by Tagore’s concept of cosmic consciousness. He added that U.R. Ananthamurthy was profoundly influenced by the idea of national integration espoused by Tagore.
The sammelan is being held a day after Bengali poet and critic Shankar Ghosh was honoured with the Jnanpith title. Governor Vajubhai Vala, in his address, acknowledged the contribution of Bengali writers to the country’s culture and literature.
