Assam Assembly Speaker and Jorhat MLA Hitendra Nath Goswami on Sunday announced that a larger than life-size statue of Harijan Bandhu Krishna Nath Sarmah would be erected near Dergaon.
Goswami was addressing a gathering on the occasion of Sarmah’s 133rd birth anniversary on Sunday evening at the Gonesh Gogoi Memorial Park where a bust of the Gandhian is installed.
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In 1934 Mahatma Gandhi had opened the doors of the Sarmah family’s naamghar (prayer hall) for Dalits to worship.
The social reformer, nationalist and graduate in science and law was praised by Mahatma Gandhi for this act of defiance which had empowered the Harijans but Sarmah and his family were ostracised by the Brahmin community to which Sarmah belonged.
Goswami said Sarmah was a Congressman, who was instrumental in organising the 1926 session of Congress in Jorhat,.
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“He was a class one volunteer who served the people,” Goswami said.
“It is time that he was remembered for the man he was. He is a true son of the soil. Although this park has a bust of Krishna Nath Sarmah along with that of poet Ganesh Gogoi, we want that his qualities as a true leader of the people to be known to one and all, who come to Jorhat,” Goswami said.
“A plot of land has already been acquired near the National Highway at Dergaon and a statue of Sarmah will adorn the proposed site soon,” Goswami said.
Goswami also said the giant-size statue of Assam’s first indigenous tea planter Maniram Dewan at Cinnamara tea estate would soon be completed.
A rest house and eatery serving cuisine of the tea tribe community was also part of the project, which it was hoped would draw tourists. Goswami said Rs 26 lakh was sanctioned for the massive statue.