AGARTALA, May 16 (TIWN): On yet another insult to the royal heritage of the state the Left front govt. here in Tripura has come under the limelight with Chief Minister Manik Sarkar on a spree to erase the historical heritage of the state. After the Ujjayanta Palace rename fiasco has rocked the state with the state govt. faced criticisms from several fields, CM Manik Sarkar has now come up with its proposal to rename the existing Pushpavanta Palace (Governors House) at Kunjaban.

Sarkar recently on his statement said that the Governors House of the state at Kunjaban which is also known as Pushpavant Palace would be converted into a museum on the memories of Poet Rabindranath Tagore.

He proposed that it would be renamed with Rabindra Museum as the Governor House would be shifted to a new destination. “The museum would help people, especially the young generation to know many unknown things of the Nobel Laureate,” Sarkar said.

The Pushpavant palace was built by Maharaja Birendra Kishore Manikya. Speaking on the issue, royal scion Pradyot Bikram Kishore Manikya Debbarma expressed his disenchantment and said that one could not change the name of any historical place as his own wish.

However, talking to TIWN in this regard Pradyot on Saturday said, “One cannot take such a decision which will disfigure the history of the state Tripura.”

Adding to that he also said, “If the state govt. here really intends to build a museum here in the memories of Poet Rabindranath Tagore, then the govt. is most welcome to build it separately, Manik Sarkar does not need to rename the Pushpavant Palace and I would support him in this regard because we all do have decent respect for Tagore.”

“Because it shows a full disrespect to the history of the state, Sarkar needs to turn out from his proposal,” adding he said, “If the Pushbanta Palace is renamed than we would move to the court taking up the issue.”

Pradyot reacting sharply to the statement of Sarkar said, “Manik Sarkar is simply playing with the sentiments of not only the royal family here but also with the sentiments of people of the state.”

It is worthy to mention here that couple of years back, opposition bodies has strongly protested the state govt. and its decision to rename the Ujjayanta Palace. However, later the protest has made the government to review its decision. And in a press statement Tripura government stated that the state Museum would be known as “Tripura State Museum, Ujjayanta Palace”.

There is a genuine sentiment across the people in the state that such ‘renaming’ of old historical sites by the left government is an attempt to change the past and history of Tripura and impose their view on it. Over the years there has been a huge resentment over these attempts under the Manik Sarkar rule.