Union Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar sparked a controversy after he remarked on the complexion of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore stating that he was "not so fair" and claimed that his family members discriminated against him.
Addressing a gathering on Wednesday at Visva-Bharati University in the state, which was founded by the nobel laureate, Sarkar claimed that Tagore's mother and other family members did not cradle him or took him in their laps when he was a child.
"The family members of Rabindranath Tagore were fair-skinned but Tagore was of not so fair complexion. Due to this, his mother and other family members did not cradle him in their arms or took him in their laps," said the Union Minister.
Several leaders in the political and non-political spheres have condemned the statement of Sarkar.
Ponnam Prabhakar, former Member of Parliament from Congress, demanded that Sarkar should be sacked from his post.
"Rabindranath Tagore is not only a legend of Bengal but also of the country. People respect him. The comment on Rabindranath Tagore by the Union Minister should be taken back. It is an insult of all the citizens. If BJP wants to pay respect to Tagore then remove the Minister from his position," Prabhakar told ANI.
Subhas Sarkar recently in July was appointed as Union Minister of State for Education as a part of Cabinet reshuffle.
Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said these kind of statements make "no sense," adding that it is in "great distaste and should be comndemned".
Communist Party Of India (Marxist) Leader Hannan Mollah also critised the Union Minister on Thursday and said, "This type of statement is most unfortunate. And the people who are making the statement, you know their status. They so not have minimum sense and civilised concept. Rabindranath Tagore was a renowned poet and a philosopher of the whole world."
( With inputs from ANI )
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