Tagore a flagbearer of country's cultural traditions: Nitish

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday described Nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore as a great icon of the country's rich cultural traditions and said the railways have rightly decided to run a special train to spread awareness among the people about various facets of the literary great.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday described Nobel laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore as a great icon of the country's rich cultural traditions and said the railways have rightly decided to run a special train to spread awareness among the people about various facets of the literary great.

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"Tagore has to be symbolised as the icon of the cultural traditions by virtue of his contributions in making the world aware about the rich culture of our country," he told reporters here after inspection of the pictures and other documents related to the noble laureate on a special train at Patna Junction in Patna.

The railways had launched a special train from Kolkata earlier this year showcasing various pictorial and documentary records of Tagore which will criss cross various parts of the country to mark his 150th birth anniversary celebrations.

"A person of the stature of Tagore, who had earned international acclaim as a social reformer, literati and a freedom fighter, is borne once in centuries," Kumar said.

Stating that the Nobel laureate will continue to inspire succeeding generations to achieve excellence, the chief minister said that the ongoing 'Sanskritik Yatra' being taken out by the railways was the right way to educate the younger generation about the persona of Tagore. The special train will chug along various routes of Bihar like Muzaffarpur and Samastipur after having traversing through Gaya and Patna before setting out for its next destination on June 3, officials said.