Guwahati: The last rites of Pradip Baruah, Founding Editor of the Assamese magazine Prantik, were performed at the Navagraha Crematorium in Guwahati on Thursday. Baruah passed away on Wednesday evening at a city hospital following a cardiac arrest. His daughter, Rashmi Baruah, lit the funeral pyre.
The funeral was attended by close family members, relatives, and a limited number of well-known personalities from the journalism and literary circles. Among those present were Samudra Gupta Kashyap, Dilip Chandan, Manoj Goswami, Prasanta Rajguru, Mrinal Talukdar, and several other journalists.
However, the absence of representatives the from the govermnent or the leaders of the ruling party was striking, as no leaders from the BJP was seen at the cremation. Despite earlier discussions about according state honours, no such arrangements were made.
This has sparked quiet criticism, with many expressing concern over what they see as a lack of respect for one of Assam’s finest contributors to journalism and literature during his final journey.
Notably, Pradip Baruah had been at the helm of Prantik, an Assamese fortnightly magazine published from Guwahati since 1981, as its Founding Editor. He had been undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Guwahati for the past 12 days and passed away at the age of 87.
Born on September 3, 1938, in Dibrugarh, Pradip Baruah completed his schooling at Don Bosco School in Guwahati and graduated from the then Cotton College.
The younger son of Radha Govinda Baruah, he is survived by his wife, daughter, son-in-law, and three granddaughters.
Earlier in the day, a large number of admirers and well-wishers paid their last respects to Pradip Baruah at his residence. His mortal remains were taken from his Chandmari residence on Nabagiri Path to the Navagraha Crematorium, where many people inluding AASU chief adviser Samujjal Kr Bhattacharyya, Congress leader Mira Borthakur gathered to offer their final tribute before the cremation was performed.