Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Monday urged the young generation of the state to follow the ideals of Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, the cultural icon of Assam, to take the state’s culture forward.
Sonowal said Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwala had made tremendous contributions to enrich Assamese culture and the state’s artistic fields.
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“It is for the timeless creations of Rupkonwar that the Assamese society has been able to introduce its culture at world stage. His artistic and literary works have always been boosting the morale and confidence of the Assamese race to move forward,” said Sonowal.
Chief minister Sonowal said this while speaking at the 117th birth anniversary of Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwala at the cultural icon’s birth place Tamulbari Tea Estate in Dibrugarh.
Referring to Rupkonwar’s path-breaking endeavour to make the first Assamese feature film ‘Joymoti’ with inexperienced artistes and limited resources, Sonowal hailed the film as a brave move for empowering women which laid the foundation for state’s glorious filmmaking journey and strongly introduced Assamese culture and heritage in front of the world audience.
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Sonowal called upon the parents and teachers to make the youth aware about the lives and works of the great personalities of the state like Srimanta Sankardev, Madhabdev, Lakshminath Bezbaruah and Jyoti Prasad Agarwala.
The Assam CM stressed on the need to inspire the coming generations with progressive and reformative ideals of the great personalities to eradicate societal evils like superstitious beliefs and customs.
Speaking on the occasion, former Asom Sahitya Sabha president Dr Nagen Saikia elaborated on the ways Agarwala spread the message of humanity through his creations.
Saikia also underlined the need to translate the works of Rupkonwar to other languages for propagating the doyen’s visions to other parts of the country and the world.
Director of Tamulbari Tea Company Pvt. Ltd Debi Prasad Bagrodiya said the proposed Jyoti Tirtha Cultural Project to be set up at Tamulbari Tea Estate covering an area of 9 bighas would preserve the maestro’s works, various books and magazines containing writings about Rupkonwar and his films. Daughter of Jyoti Prasad Agarwala, Joyshree Chaliha also spoke at the programme.
The chief minister also unveiled a bust of Agarwala at Tamulbari Tea Estate and released several books.
MLAs Prashanta Phukan, Rituparna Barua, other two daughters of Agarwala Satyashree Das and Gyanashree Pathak, VC of Srimanta Sankardev University Dr Kandarpa Deka were also present at the programme among others.