Mamata slams CBI, says failure to recover Nobel a matter of shame
Medallion was stolen in 2004 from the museum at Visva Bharati University
KOLKATA: Paying homage to Rabindranath Tagore on his 161st birth anniversary, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday lamented that the bard’s Nobel Prize, which was stolen 18 years ago, is yet to be found.
She maintained that this “failure” on the part of the CBI is a “big insult and cause of shame” for the people of Bengal.
Expressing apprehension that the CBI might have closed the probe by now, she said: “It pains me to think that the Nobel could not be traced even after so many years. This (theft) happened during the Left Front regime. I do not know if any evidence still exists.”
Banerjee, during her address at a state government programme, further added: “It is an insult for us. It (the award) was such a big honour for us. We were the first to get it and someone took it from us, defeated us.”
Paying homage to Tagore, the Chief Minister also said his works inspire Indians to live as one while “certain forces preach divisiveness”.
The function was organised jointly by the state Information and Cultural Affairs department and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
In 2004, Tagore’s Nobel medallion was stolen from the Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan. The CBI was handed over the case and it was closed in 2007. It was not able to retrieve the original medallion. In 2008, it was reopened by the CBI. However, the case was closed in 2009.
Born in Kolkata in 1861, Tagore, the composer of the national anthem, was the first Indian to win the Nobel Prize in 1913 for his immortal collection, Gitanjali, which was translated and published in London in 1912.
He delivered the Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech in 1921 at Stockholm and was handed over the prize.
However, because of World War I, the ceremony could not be held at the time.
The statement of the Chief Minister comes at a time when the CBI has been investigating several cases in Bengal. Trinamool Congress leaders, including party chairperson Mamata Banerjee, have questioned the ability and integrity of the CBI to crack cases. She had repeatedly criticised the BJP for letting loose the CBI and ED to scare Opposition leaders.
Even the Chief Justice of India had questioned the impartiality of the CBI and felt that it should be established to win the confidence of the people.
The Supreme Court had earlier described the CBI as “caged parrot” and “its master's voice” while citing evidence of interference in the federal agency's inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal field licenses.