Music maestro Bhupen Hazarika’s son Tej Hazarika on Friday said that he has been invited by the Indian government to accept the Bharat Ratna on behalf of his late father and it will be his ‘tremendous honour’ to receive the country’s highest civilian award.
In a new statement released to journalist Samudra gupta Kashyap, he said his words were misinterpreted regarding his February 11th statement about the Bharat Ratna.
In the new statement, he said, “The government of India has graciously extended an invitation to me to accept the Bharat Ratna for my father. He sacrificed much and devoted selflessly to the cause of a united and progressive India and now he is being recognized for that with this well deserved award.
It is a tremendous honor, for me and my family to be invited by the GOI to accept the Bharat Ratna on behalf of my late father. It will be my dreamlike privilege to receive it for my father and his fans and followers everywhere. As always, I will strive to follow in my father’s footsteps to work to bring light where there is darkness.
It is unfortunate that (some) people would completely misinterpret my public February 11th statement regarding the Bharat Ratna itself by sadly misrepresenting my view of it.
Although I have lived abroad most of my life my Indian roots have been strong all along as not only was I born in India (so was my mother and my father and their parents), I have family in India. By upbringing, and through informed reflection I have always had the highest regard for the Indian Republic, it’s vast diversity and its noble institution of recognizing it’s exceptional individuals from all backgrounds with civilian awards—the highest of them being the Bharat Ratna, recently announced for my father, the late Dr. Bhupen Hazarika.”
Earlier, it was reported that Tej Hazarika was unwilling to accept Bharat Ratna as a mark of support to the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
