New Delhi: Tripura Chief Minister (CM) Biplab Deb on Friday ignited a controversy by saying famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore refused to accept Nobel Prize in protest against the atrocities by the British.

In a video being circulated on social media, Deb said “besides being a world-famous poet, Rabindranath Tagore is also known for rejecting the Nobel Prize in protest against the British government and its atrocities”.

The CM made these remarks at a function in Udaipur to mark 157th birth anniversary of Tagore.

Tagore received the Nobel Prize for poetry in 1913.

He became the first non-European, non-white person to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, which included a medal, a citation and a cash prize of £8,000.

However, he rejected Knighthood in protest against the Jalianwalla Bagh massacre of 1919.

Attacking Deb for his gaffe, the Opposition asked him to do the “basic homework” before delivering lectures.

“Our chief minister has crossed every limit of idiocy. We even don’t feel like commenting on the issue,” a leader of the Communist Party of India — Marxist, Goutam Das, told media.

The Congress party described Deb’s statement as “highly unfortunate”.

“It is a request from our side that he should do a deep study on subjects he would like to speak on before an audience. Confusing the knighthood with the Nobel Prize is not expected from a chief minister,” Tripura state Congress leader Tapas Dey tweeted.

Earlier in March, Deb said internet and satellite communications existed even 5,000 years ago during the Mahabharata era.

“The internet is nothing new to India and that it existed even in the days of Mahabharata. The blind king Dhritarashtra would get regular updates about the battles of Kurukshetra through Sanjay, who was also nowhere near the battlefield like him and this was possible only through technology and satellite communication,” he had said in state capital Agartala.

Last month, Deb said Diana Hayden did not deserve the crown of Miss World in 1997. He even said that international beauty contests were a farce.

“I fail to understand the process of judgement of the crowning of the Miss World contest in 1997, in which Diana Hayden won the award. But Aishwarya Rai, who won the Miss World crown in 1994, fully deserved it as she represented the Indian women in the true sense,” he had said.

He later apologised and retracted his statement.

“I was talking about how the handlooms of the state could be marketed well. If anybody is hurt or feeling defamed, I regret for this. I respect all women as my mother,” he said in a statement.