Sixty-six guests from 10 countries, including India, are attending the three-day literary meet which will have 24 sessions covering literature, contemporary issues and different areas of the arts. Poet Chandidas had expressed the sublime truth of humanity in a very simple form, in very few words through his universal lines 'Sabar opore manush sotto tahar opore nai' (Man is above everything, humanity is greater than everything, nothing exists beyond that),' he said in his speech. Bengali is the mother tongue of almost the entire population of Bangladesh. He said almost 600 years ago, a Bengali poet had spoken on the issues of human rights and freedom. The Pala rulers of Bengal (8th to 12th century)who were Buddhists and whose religious language was Palidid not inhibit the emergence of a colloquial tongue known as Gaudiya Prakrit, the language from which Bengali developed. The former president paid tributes to the rich legacy of Bengali literature.
On being felicitated by the organisers of the book fair and the literary festival for getting Bharat Ratna, Mukherjee said, 'I don't know how much I deserve this honour.' Mukherjee was recently conferred the country's highest civilian award along with Bharatiya Jana Sangh leader Nanaji Deshmukh and Assamese singer Bhupen Hazarika.
He said that nearly 20 crore people speak Bangla in West Bengal and Bangladesh. The 83-year-old statesman said people must accord due respect to Bangla language - which is one of the most spoken languages in West Bengal and Bangladesh.
