Guwahati, Oct. 27 (PTI): Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today requested his Odisha counterpart Naveen Patnaik to preserve Assamese litterateur Lakshminath Bezbaroa’s heritage residence at Sambalpur.
Sonowal telephoned Patnaik and sought his intervention for taking a proactive step for the preservation of the residence which is intrinsically associated with the emotions of the people of Assam, said a state government release here.
Responding to Sonowal’s request the Odisha chief minister assured to do the needful for the protection and preservation of Lakshminath Bezbaroa’s residence at Sambalpur.
To push forward the Assam government’s intent of preserving Bezbaroa’s Sambalpur residence, Sonowal asked the Minister of Cultural Affairs, Naba Kumar Doley and his media adviser Hrishikesh Goswami to leave for Sambalpur tomorrow.
The duo would also carry a letter written by Sonwal to Odisha chief minister to take preservation exercise to its logical conclusion.
Doley and would meet the Odisha chief minister and hand him over Sonowal’s letter besides meeting District Collector of Sambalpur and other organisations to push forward Assam Government’s efforts of preserving Bezbaroa’s residence there, the release added.
Reports about Odhisha government’s alleged plans to demolish Bezbaroa’s Sambalpur residence where he spent several years of his life creating his literary works to build a road there has evoked sharp reactions in Assam from students organisations and literary organisations.
The influential All Assam Students Union (AASU) has sent a letter to Naveen Patnaik demanding preservation instead of demolition of Bezbaroa s Sambalpur residence.
The AASU also demanded that Sonowal take action in the matter and turn the historical house into a museum.
Bezbaroa during his stay in Sambalpur between 1917 and 1932 had lived in the house near Kacheri but now the house is in a dilapidated condition, the Students Union asserted.
Apex literary body, the Assam Sahitya Sabha (ASS) today urged Sonowal to ensure that the ASS’ former president Lakshminath Bezbaroa’s house in Sambalpur is preserved and not demolished as planned.
Singer Zubeen Garg talking to reporters said the house instead of being pulled down should be preserved as a museum and memorial to the satirical writer.
Various litterateurs of the state have also strongly protested against the alleged move.
Born in 1864, Bezbaroa was a celebrated pioneer of modern Assamese literature and one of the literary stalwarts of the Jonaki Era, the age of romanticism in Assamese literature.
Popularly known as Rasharaaj or the king of humour for his satirical writings, the Sahityarathi through his essays, plays, fiction, poetry and satires brought to life the then stagnating Assamese literary scene responding as a sensitive artist to the prevailing social environment through his satirical works.
