Our Bureau
Dhaka
There were heavy concerns and distress in India as reports came out suggesting that the ancestral home of the legendary film maker and Bharat Ratna, Satyajit Ray, in Bangladesh was being demolished. However, the Bangladesh government has cleared out that the dilapidated one-storey house in Bangladesh’s Mymensingh has no connection with the legendary filmmaker from India.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh has put up a post on their social media accounts putting up a detailed enquiry confirming that the house had no ancestral or family links with Ray. They stated that district authorities have reviewed the land records of the house and have reported no connection with Ray. They informed that it was built by a local Zamindar Shashikant Acharya Chowdhury.
“The District Authorities have reviewed the land records related to the house and confirmed that as per the past records the land belongs to the Government and has no association with the Ray family whatsoever. Local senior citizens and respected individuals from various communities also attested that there is no known historical connection between the Ray family and the house and land currently leased to the Shishu Academy. The house is not listed as an archaeological monument, either,” the statement from Bangladesh’s Foreign Affairs Ministry read.
“It was built by a local Zamindar Shashikant Acharya Chowdhury, next to his bungalow house ‘Shashi Lodge’, for his employees. Upon the abolition of the zamindari system, it came under the control of the government. The government later allocated it to the Bangladesh ‘Shishu Academy’. Ever since, the house has been used as the office of the District Shishu Academy,” the statement added.
The whole distress started when multiple reports on the matter claimed that the house actually belonged to Ray’s grandfather and well-known Bengali writer Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury. The External Affairs Ministry of India also commented on the situation when they heard of the news, urging them to reconsider the demolition that is a symbol of the shared cultures of both countries.
