Across on Epang Opang Jhapang! Why did Shubhendu Sarkar use scissors on Mamta Didi’s books? Know the whole matter

The atmosphere of political tension in West Bengal is showing no sign of stopping. Recently, the new Shubhendu government of the state has given another big blow to Trinamool Congress (TMC) Chief Mamata Banerjee. After this decision, the politics of Bengal has once again come to a boil.

According to the information, State Library Minister Gaurishankar Ghosh has made a big announcement in the newly elected government. He has announced that ‘Epang Opang Jhapang’ will be completely removed from all government-aided libraries in the state. With his decision, a new controversy has started regarding the books kept in libraries in West Bengal.

What is Epang Opang Jhapang and why is there an uproar?

Now you must be wondering what is this ‘Epang Opang Jhapang’ thing? Actually, Library Minister Gaurishankar Ghosh’s ‘Epang Opang Jhapang’ directly means the books written by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, which were kept in all the government libraries across the state during the previous government.

Library Minister Gaurishankar Ghosh believes that libraries are sacred places to acquire knowledge, hence there should be only such books which are helpful in intellectual development of children and increasing national consciousness. He said in strong words that space in the state library will not be wasted by ‘nonsense poems’ like ‘Epang Opang Jhapang’, because these books do not contribute much to the personality development of the readers.

What is its connection with Mamta Didi’s books?

If we go to the root of this controversy, ‘Epang Opang Jhapang’ was originally an advertisement jingle for an energy drink made for children, which does not have any clear or meaningful meaning in the Bengali language. Mamta Banerjee had used these words extensively in one of her poems, after which opposition parties (especially BJP) have been continuously taunting her.

Interestingly, in the year 2022, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee also received the prestigious Bangla Academy Award for her poetry collection ‘Kavita Bitan’. Even at that time, there was a lot of debate in literary and political circles regarding this poem and the award. In literary terms, such works are kept in the category of ‘nonsense poetry’ or ‘meaningless poetry’.

Now these books will be completely removed from government libraries

Minister Gauri Shankar Ghosh has made it clear in a very clear tone that ‘Epang Opang Jhapang’ will be removed from all the libraries of the state. When the media asked him this sharp question whether any book written by Mamata Banerjee will no longer be in the library?

To this he replied bluntly, ‘I will not waste the library space by keeping all those textbooks, reading which does not develop the child’s mind. In their place, our libraries will now have the great books of Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Swami Vivekananda. Also, glorious biographies of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Maharana Pratap will be kept to inspire children.