NEW DELHI: Expressing grave concern over reports of the demolition of Satyajit Ray’s ancestral home in Dhaka, Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday called the move a direct assault on Bengali heritage and global cultural legacy.
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In a strongly worded statement posted on X, Banerjee said,
“To reduce a site of immense historical and cultural significance to rubble is nothing short of an assault on our heritage. It is a blow to the collective conscience of Bengalis everywhere and an erasure of the unparalleled contributions of the Ray family to global art.”
The property, believed to have belonged to Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury — Satyajit Ray’s grandfather and a towering figure in Bengali literature, art, and publishing — holds a special place in Bengal’s cultural history. The Ray family’s contributions, spanning literature, cinema, and the arts, have had a lasting impact on global creative traditions.
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Banerjee appealed directly to the Government of Bangladesh to reconsider the reported demolition and called upon the Government of India to initiate diplomatic engagement with Dhaka to protect and preserve the landmark.
“I urge the Government of Bangladesh to reconsider this heavy-handed decision… I also call upon the Government of India to initiate appropriate bilateral engagement to ensure this irreplaceable piece of Bengal’s cultural history is not lost to demolition,” he stated.
The reported move by Bangladeshi authorities has sparked widespread concern among artists, historians, and political leaders, with many seeing it as a blow to shared cultural heritage in the subcontinent.
While there has been no official response yet from the governments of Bangladesh or India, Banerjee’s intervention is likely to intensify calls for heritage protection across borders.
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