Poets' Tribute: Ho Chi Minh

It may seem as though yesterday but until forty years from now Vietnam and President Ho Chi Minh had been synonym to each other and were highly popular and revered in India, specially in West Bengal and Kolkata.

From 1947 to 1975, poems eulogizing Ho Chi Minh were written in Kolkata not in dozens but in hundreds. There would have hardly been a poet, who did not write a poem on or about Ho Chi Minh, if not more.

On the last leg of his state visit to India, Ho Chi Minh had people had gathered on both sides of the eight mile long road hours before his arrival to accord him a Warmest welcome in the city. For a glimpse of President Ho, huge number of people waited on rooftops, balconies and all the vantage points along the route through which his convoy was to pass.

In fact, the people of Kolkata were greatly influenced by Uncle Ho's sociability, simplicity, austere life style and above all his boundless love for the people. The seniors in the city still remember him with utmost love, reverence and respect. The younger generation of India today is almost unaware of this golden chapter of history.

To commemorate the 125th Birth Anniversary of such a colossus statesman President Ho Chi Minh, Prem Kapoor and Kusum Jain have done a commendable job in collecting, editing and publishing in book form the poetic tributes paid by some of the poets of Kolkata to this great man.

Great statesmen like Ho Chi Minh cannot be confined to a particular country. They are, in fact, a heritage for the world fraternity. They represent world peace, progress and broth-erhood. The younger generation needs to learn a lot and grasp something from their deeds.

The poems in this collection highlight various aspects of the personality and deeds of this great man and in this light it may be a small but significant endeavour which may go miles in strengthening the friendly ties between India and Vietnam.

Author: Prem Kapoor & Kusum Jain

Publisher: Kabitika

Released Date: 2015

ISBN: 9789385248320