Assam Government fails to popularize practice of singing the State anthem 

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: Strange are the ways of functioning of the Assam Government! More than three years after officially adopting the song ‘O Mor Apunar Desh’ (‘O My Endearing Country’) of eminent litterateur Xahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaruah as the State anthem, Dispur has not taken any effective initiative to popularize the practice of singing the chorus on different occasions and platforms.

Way back in February 29, 2016 the State Cultural Affairs department had notified that ‘O Mor Apunar Desh’ of Xahityarathi Lakshminath Bezbaruah is the ‘Asom Jatiya Sangeet’ or ‘State anthem of Assam’.

In fact, the notification even had the approved composition of the song along with its approved notation. It also stated that the “duration of the song to be sung or played must be within 70-75 seconds.

The notification signed by the Commissioner and Secretary to the Cultural Affairs department , Preetom Saikia, further stated that the song can be sung in “student meeting in schools, school assembly, cinema halls, cultural programmes, meetings etc.”

But in reality the notification has remain confined in the official files only. Issued during the time of the previous Congress regime, neither that dispensation nor the present BJP-led coalition has done anything to take the song to the people. In fact, the 155th birth anniversary of Roxoraj Bezbaruah celebrated on Monday could well have been an ideal occasion for taking such an initiative.

The song was first published in 1909 in an Assamese magazine named Bahi (“flute”). It was adopted as the Assam’s ‘State Song’ at the Asom Chatra Sanmilan (‘Assam Student Conference’) held in Tezpur in 1927. The song is also included in Kadamkali authored by Bezbaruah. It is the most popular Assamese patriotic song of all time. The song has now translated version in other languages and also dialects of North East India.

The song is rendered on various occasions by the public themselves. But concrete action on the part of the government can definitely go a long way in popularizing the practice of singing the chorus among the masses.

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