Rabindra Bhavan at Tilha Kothi in Bhagalpur. Picture by Amit Kumar

Bhagalpur, Nov. 16: The Bhagalpur chapter of Bihar Bengalee Association, an organisation of Bengali-speaking people, has decided to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore on February 13 next year.

Tagore had visited Bhagalpur on February 13, 1910, and stayed here till February 15. He had come to attend the third Bangiya Sahitya Sammelan organised at Bangiya Sahitya Parisad. Keeping this in mind, the Bihar Bengalee Association has decided to organise a daylong function on February 13 next year.

During his stay here, Tagore had composed a few lines of Gitanjali, for which he was awarded the Nobel prize in 1913.

Tagore had earlier initiated to establish Bangiya Sahitya Parisad in Bhagalpur in 1905 to protest against the Partition of Bengal by then governor-general Lord Curzon in 1904.

Curzon had engineered the separation of Bengal to weaken the struggle for freedom of the people of Bengal. Tagore had then called for a united Bengal to fight against the British Raj.

Nirupam Kanti Pal, the secretary of the Bhagalpur unit of Bihar Bengalee Association, said: “The main function on February 13, 2012, would start with prabhatpheri (morning procession) from Rabindra Bhavan. All functions would be held on the premises of Bhagalpur Institute later in the day.”

He added: “The events for the function are yet to be finalised. To make it grand, the vice-chairman of state minority council, Dilip Kumar Sinha, would come to discuss the matter with the district magistrate on November 20.”

Sinha would also hold talks with the members of Bihar Bengalee Association to make the event a success.