On Tuesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that eminent filmmaker Satyajit Ray’s ancestral home in Dhaka is being demolished by Bangladeshi authorities. However, the Government of India has stepped up to co-operate with the Government of Bangladesh to repair and reconstruct the ancestral property.
The century-old property in Dhaka’s Horikishore Ray Chowdhury Road belonged to Ray’s grandfather, the renowned litterateur Upendra Kishore Ray Chowdhury.
Citing the property’s landmark status, Bengal’s cutural renaissance, the Government of India said, “It would be preferable to reconsider the demolition and examine options for its repair and reconstruction as a museum of literature and a symbol of the shared culture of India and Bangladesh.”
The statement added, “The Government of India would be willing to extend cooperation for this purpose.”
Earlier, Banerjee appealed to the Mohammad Yunus government in Bangladesh to take steps to preserve the ancestral property. She had urged the Indian government to intervene in this matter.
Upendra Kishore Ray Chowdhury’s house was being demolished to make way for a new semi-concrete structure. It was formerly used as the Mymensingh Children’s Academy but had reportedly fallen into disrepair after years of neglect by the authorities.
The house was built about a century ago and after the partition of 1947, the property came under government ownership.