State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (LGRD) Swapan Bhattacharjee has said that Michael Madhusudan Dutt has patriotism in every literary work. His intellectual and contemplative creations have enriched Bangla language and literature, he said.
He also said that the Bangla language is presented in the world with a touch of modernity. Sitting in the city of Versailles, in France, he wrote numerous poems around the Kapatakkha River, the motherland and his birthplace. He is remembered by the proud history of the Bengali nation, he said these while addressing as the chief guest at the concluding ceremony of the seven-day long Madhu Mela at the Madhu Mancha of Sagardari in Keshabpur of Jashore on Tuesday evening.
Jashore Superintendent of Police Mohammad Ashraf Hossain, Superintendent of Jashore 250 bed general hospital Doctor Dilip Kumar Ray, Member secretary of the celebration committee and Keshabpur Upazila Nirbahi Officer Nusrat Jahan, District Awami League president Shahidul Islam Milon, Keshabpur Upazila Parishad Chairman Kazi Rafiqul Islam,Keshabpur municipal mayor Md.Ruhul Amin, Upazila Awami League President SM Ruhul Amin, Special Correspondent of the Daily Ittefaq Shyamol Sarkar,Advocate Abu Bakkar Siddique, Assistant Professor of Dumuria College Ramesh Chandra Mondal, Sagardari UP Chairman Kazi Mustafizul Islam Mukto among others spoke as special guests.
The function was presided over by Deputy Commissioner of Jashore Mohammad Shafiul Arif. The concluding programme was presented by Shrabani Sur, Head Master of Jashore Girls Secondary School and Ahsan Habib Parvez, Assistant Teacher of Jashore Government Girls High School.Prizes were distributed among the winners in the quiz and drawing competitioners which participated in the event. There was a crowded of Madhusudan lovers who coming to stalls at the fair time.
A weeklong 'Madhu Mela' in celebration of the 196th birth anniversary of poet Michael Madhusudan Dutta was started at Sagardari in Keshabpur Upazila of the district on January 23 last. The largest fair in the region started on January 23, instead of the scheduled January 22, due to the death of Ismat Ara Sadek, a Member of Parliament from Keshabpur and former state Minister for Public Administration. Not only Keshabpur was the festive mood for this fair, people from all Jashore had a festival mood.Neighbour districts as Satkhira, Khulna and Narail people were gathered the fair. Madhusudan Padak has received two poets from the fair.
A series of colourful events like jatra, circus, varieties of grameen sports, seminar on Madhusudan's life and works and cultural programmes were arranged during the weeklong fair. Over 200 stalls with traditional textile and cottage industry products have been set up on the Mela venue.
His most famous literary work is sonnet “Kapatakkha Nad”. Kapatakkha Nad (river) flows through Jashore, the poet’s ancestral home. Madhusudan Dutt is widely considered to be one of the greatest poets in Bengali literature and the father of the Bengali sonnet. He pioneered what came to be called ‘Amitrakshar Chhanda’ (blank verse).
His first attempt at blank verse was ‘Sharmistha’ in Bengali literature. Kaliprasanna Singha, who is famous for his translation of the ancient Hindu epic Mahabharata into Bengali, organised a felicitation ceremony to Madhusudan Dutt to mark the introduction of blank verse in Bengali poetry.
On January 25, 1824 Madhusudan, often fondly addressed as ‘Mahakavi’ (poet of epics), was born to land lord Raj Narayan Dutt and Janhabi Devi at Sagardari under Keshabpur upazila in Jashore.
He passed away at Kolkata General Hospital on June 29, 1873, only three days after his wife Henrietta breathed her last. The poet was buried at Park Street in Kolkata.