A CORRESPONDENT
DIBRUGARH: Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma's alleged comment on historical figure Bagh Hazarika alias Ismail Siddique during the convention of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on January 8 in Guwahati, has not gone down well with the Upper Assam Muslim Kalyan Parishad (UAMKP).
Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Saukat Latif, president of UAMKP, said, "If Bagh Hazarika was a fictional character then why is his statue with Ahom general Lachit Borphukan at Saraighat? If they have a problem with Bagh Hazarika then his statue should be demolished. We caution Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma not to distort Assam's history. We are upset with the Chief Minister's statement that Bagh Hazarika was an imaginary character."
He said, "The famous historian Dr Surya Kumar Bhuyan mentioned about Bagh Hazarika as the 'Assamese Mohammedan Commander whose military genius was partly responsible for the success of Lachit Borphukan's operation against Ram Singha."
Manirul Islam Bora, working president of Upper Assam Muslim Kalyan Parishad, said, "Dr Bhuyan, a famous historian wrote in his book Shargadev Rajeswar Singha that during Ram Singha's invasion of Assam, in upper Assam a strong person named Bagh Hazarika killed a full-grown tiger with his bare hands and as such he was famous as Bagh Hazarika."
"Apart from Bagh Hazarika, Lachit Borphukan had other trusted Muslim warriors namely, Liadhar Khan, Gathia and Bhokuwa etc. In the book of Muslims of Assam written by famous historian Bhuban Chandra Handique, it was mentioned in page 6, that Bhokuwa / Bhekuni, the trusted bodyguard of Lachit Borphukan fired the first cannon. Research scholar Dr Mohini Kumar Saikia clearly mentioned about Bagh Hazarika's contribution in the Battle of Saraighat as – 'Lest we forget the contribution of military officer Bagh Hazarika, whose heroism became one of the factors of glorious victory of the Ahom General Lachit Borphukan against the invading army of Emperor Aurangzeb, which posted a great threat in the independence of Assam in the middle of the seventeenth century," Upper Assam Muslim Kalyan Parishad stated in a press release.
It further stated, "Nobody can ignore the contribution towards Assamese literature of the descendent of Bagh Hazarika, Gyan Malini poet Mafizuddin Ahmed Hazarika. Surprisingly in 2016 and 2017, the then Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal mentioned in the Assam Assembly that Bagh Hazarika along with the great Lachit Borphukan fought vehemently to defeat the Mughals and maintained the independence of Assam. It is very astonishing that the statement one Chief Minister made in the Assam Assembly regarding Bagh Hazarika has been denied by the subsequent Chief Minister."
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