Mahesh Bhatt: To Attack Vidyasagar Is To Attack Bangla Language
Veteran filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt on Wednesday condemned the desecration of the statue of Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar during a road show violence in Kolkata.
News
oi-Swikriti Srivastava
By Pti
Veteran
filmmaker
Mahesh
Bhatt
on
Wednesday
condemned
the
desecration
of
the
statue
of
Ishwar
Chandra
Vidyasagar
during
a
road
show
violence
in
Kolkata,
saying
the
attack
on
the
social
reformer
is
akin
to
an
attack
on
the
Bengali
language.
Clashes
broke
out
between
BJP
supporters
and
student
activists
and
those
of
the
Left
and
Trinamool
Congress
Chatra
Parishad
(TMCP)
during
BJP
President
Amit
Shah's
road
show
on
Tuesday.
Officials
said
trouble
began
after
stones
were
pelted
at
Amit
Shah's
convoy
as
it
passed
through
College
Street
and
the
arterial
Bidhan
Sarani
on
its
way
to
Swami
Vivekananda's
residence
in
north
Kolkata,
a
little
over
3.5
km
from
Esplanade
in
the
heart
of
the
city,
where
it
began.
"To
attack
Pandit
Vidya
Sagar
is
to
attack
Bangla
language.
To
begin
with,
he
simplified
Bangla
for
studying
through
Borno
Porichoy
(Introduction
to
Letters)" Bhatt
tweeted,
tagging
TMC
spokesperson
Derek
O'Brien.
A
college
named
after
Iswarchandra
Vidyasagar,
a
key
figure
in
the
Bengal
renaissance,
was
ransacked
and
a
bust
of
the
19th
century
educationist
was
shattered.
Both
BJP
and
TMC
are
blaming
each
other
for
the
destruction
of
the
statue.
Through
"Borno
Porichoy",
a
series
of
books
which
is
considered
a
classic,
Vidyasagar
reconstructed
the
Bengali
alphabet
and
simplified
Bengali
typography.
He
was
a
campaigner
for
remarriage
of
widows,
which
was
eventually
legalised
on
26
July
1856
by
the
British
government
of
that
time.