Union Home Minister Amit Shah releases book titled “Assam’s Braveheart – Lachit Barphukan”
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday released a book titled “Assam’s Braveheart – Lachit Barphukan” in the presence of Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma in a programme held at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra in Guwahati. An initiative of the Government of Assam, the book authored in English by eminent writer Shri Arup Kr Dutta, is an endeavour to familiarize the nation with the story of legendary 17th century war hero of the state Lachit Barphukan’s life, and the sacrifices he made while defending his motherland against Mughal army. This book not only chronicles the rich and untold historical events of Assam but also captures how the legacy of Lachit Barphukan has had its influence on the posterity.
The book is translated into 23 Indian languages. The authors involved in this translation work are Gyan Prakash Tekchandani and Sundardas V Gohrani (Sindhi), Wahengbam Kumari Chanu (Manipuri), Rajeshwar Singh Raju (Dogri). Munjuluri Krishna Kumari (Telugu), Suren Talukdar (Assamese), Pradeep Kumar (Hindi), Lalchand Saren (Santhali), Devayan Bhaduri (Bangla), Harkamalpreet Singh (Punjabi), Dr. K Shivlingappa Hadihalu and Veerendra Rabihal (Kannada), Bindumadhava Kulkarni (Marathi), RS Bhaskar (Konkani), Kannayan Dakshinamurthy (Tamil), Vijaydeo Jha and Sanjay Jha (Maithili), Dr. Khagen Sharma (Nepali), Subhash Chandra Satpathy (Odia), Baldevanand Sagar (Sanskrit), Swarnaprabha Chainary and Phukan Chandra Basumatary (Bodo), S Salim Kumar (Malayalam), Mirza AB Baig ( Urdu,), Nissar Azam (Kashmiri), Vinod Patel (Gujarati) and Deen dayal Sharma( Rajasthani).
Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma thanked Union Home Minister Amit Shah fo his suggestion to bring out a book on the life and heroic exploits of Lachit Barphukan in different Indian languages while attending the 400th birth anniversary celebration of the legendary general in New Delhi on 24th November, 2022 so that the children and youth become aware about this braveheart and draw inspiration from him. The Chief Minister also expressed gratitude to the author Arup Kumar Dutta and the translators of the book who have worked very hard to accomplish the task within the time frame.
Dr. Sarma said that while Indian history covered voluminous chapters on Mughal dynasty glorifying their rulers the legendary Indian heroes and the great Indian dynasties that made profound contribution in building the edifice of 5000 years old Indian civilization were ignored by the historians. He said that Indian heroes like Chatrapati Shivaji, Durga Das Rathore, Lachit Barphukan etc. should be glorified more in our history books as they embody valour, sacrifice and patriotism and are enduring source of inspiration.
The Chief Minister further said that to take the heroic tale of Lachit Barphukan to every nook and corner of the country, translated copy of the book would be released in respective states in programmes to be held in association with respective state governments. He also said that a mega theatrical performance on Lachit Barphukan as advised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be staged across the nation. The show will be performed involving around 500 artists.
Minister of Education Dr. Ranoj Pegu, Vice Chairman of Assam Publication Board Sumanta Chaliha, writer Arup Kumar Dutta, translators of the book and host of other dignitaries were also present in the programme.