Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal urges youth to follow Rupkonwar’s ideals

GUWAHATI: “Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwala had made tremendous contribution to enrich Assamese culture and artistic fields and Assamese society has been able to introduce its culture at world stage primarily due to his timeless creations. His artistic and literary works have always been boosting the morale and confidence of the Assamese race to move forward,” Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said on Monday while speaking at the 117th birth anniversary of Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwala at the cultural icon’s birthplace 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. The Chief Minister urged the young generation of the State to follow ideals of Rupkonwar to take the State’s culture forward.

Calling on 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, Jyoti Prasad Agarwala etc, Sonowal 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, noted litterateur Dr Nagen Saikia elaborated on the ways Agarwala spread the message of humanity through his creations and he 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 that 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, his films etc. 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 along with releasing 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, stated a press release.

Also read: Contributions of Rupkonwar recalled