STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: Deputy Leader of the Congress Party in the Lok Sabha and MP of Koliabor constituency Gaurav Gogoi wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the issue of the delimitation draft.
In the letter, he said this regarding the Election Commission’s exclusion of Sri Sri Batadraba Than, the birthplace of Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardev, with its allied xatras and inherent revenue villages, from the Batadraba LAC and inclusion into the Nagaon LAC in the proposed delimitation of the Assembly constituency. Furthermore, the Assam government has recently taken a cabinet decision to completely merge the existing Batadraba LAC into Dhing LAC.”
Further, it mentioned, “It is pertinent to mention that as per the religious faith in Vaishnavite culture, the place Batadraba has historical, sociocultural, and religious identity in relation to ‘Varaha’, the 7th Incarnation of Lord Krishna, and being the birthplace of Mahapurusha Srimanta Sankardeva, the originator of the Neo-Vaishnavite movement in greater Assam. The place was rediscovered in the year 1656 AD after being abandoned by Sankardeva at the age of 67 years. Since then, Batadraba Than has been centred around the philosophy of ‘Eka Sarana Nama Dharma’ and has become the uniting thread of the people of Assam and neighbouring states.
Batatdraba Than identifies with the satras that maintain the philosophy of Sankardeva, the inherent revenue villages centred around the Than under the Batadrava Development Block, and the entire Hatichung Mouza. But the Batatdraba LAC has been carved out in the referred proposal, and the effort is to rename it Dhing LAC. This step seems to neglect the faith and factual existence of Batatdraba as a place, which amounts to distorting its legacy and past glory. Therefore, I urge you to raise the demand for immediate intervention in this matter to restore the legacy of the Neo Vaishnavism movement initiated by Mahapurush Srimanta Sankardeva and ensure that the original constituency of Batatdraba LAC is restored in the new delimitation proposal for the Assembly constituency.”
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