When Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Assam this past weekend, he was welcomed by huge crowds in the state. The Prime Minister, along with announcing several development projects in Assam, was also there to take part in the 100th anniversary celebrations of legendary Assamese singer Bhupen Hazarika. PM Modi, on this occasion, remembered how Bhupen Hazarika was insulted by the Congress party in 2019 when he was bestowed the Bharat Ratna.
PM Modi shared that Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma had showed him a video on Saturday night after they had attended a program celebrating the birth centenary of Hazarika in Guwahati. In the video, current Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge was questioning the decision to bestow the prestigious Bharat Ratna to a ‘singer’.
The Prime Minister questioned, “I was hurt after listening to a statement by the Congress president. The day Government of India bestowed Bharat Ratna on Bhupen Da, the Congress president had made that statement. I did not notice it then. When someone is insulted, I cannot tolerate it. Tell me, if giving Bharat Ratna to Bhupen Da was right or wrong. Congress mocked Bharat Ratna to Hazarika. Was it not wrong?”
Notably, Bhupen Hazarika was not just a singer, his voice was the soul of the Northeast. His music gave voice to the land of Brahmaputra. His music was a cultural movement, and his voice connected Assam to the mainstream of India, without erasing its cultural identity.
Honoured with Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, and Bharat Ratna amjong several awards he had won, he was a cultural icon of Assam and even the entire Northeast of India.
PM Modi urged the people of Assam to question Congress party why they had insulted Bhupen Hazarika, and reduced a cultural icon of the region to ‘just a singer’.
During his visit to Assam, PM Modi also highlighted how Assam has been progressing rapidly under the BJP government. With PM Modi in center and CM Himanta Biswa Sarma in Assam, the state has made giant strides in development.
The Prime Minister highlighted that the dreams envisioned by great sons of Assam like Bhupen Hazarika are now being realised with full sincerity by the double engine government.
