Hojai MLA Shiladitya proposes to rename Karimganj as Sribhumi to honour Rabindranath

November 5: “Rabindranath called Sylhet as Sribhumi and orginally Karimganj was a part of Sylhet. So if we demand to rename Karimganj as Sylhet, then it would be a befitting tribute to Rabindranath.” These were the words uttered by Hojai MLA Shiladitya Dev at Karimganj on Tuesday. Infact, MLA Dev was in Karimganj on 5 November to participate in the centenary of Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to Karimganj on this day.

Shiladitya Dev further told that on his return to Guwahati, “I will talk with Chief Minister in this regard to know his views. I will definitely try and see that we can call Karimganj as Sribhumi in the near future.” He further went on to say that many a times people call him Bangladeshi because his father was born in Sylhet in 1936. He told that at that time, it was a united India. Sylhet was then a part of Assam and India. He said, “Today not only regarding NRC, but also regarding ;Khilanjiya (son of the soil) if any question arises, then I feel that the inhabitants of Sribhumi will be the ‘khilonjiya’s’ in Assam.”

Karimganj was celebrating the centenary of the arrival of the noble laureate Rabindranath Tagore. It was on this day in 1919 that Tagore visited Karimganj. To mark this great occasion, a bouquet of events were organised. A colourful rally was taken out in the morning on Tuesday. People from every walk of life matched their footsteps in this historic rally. Hojai MLA Shiladitya Dev was also a part of this rally. Students of various schools and colleges also participated in the rally.

Later on, a formal celebration was held, which was inaugurated by lighting the lamp by MLA Shiladitya Dev in presence of many eminent personalities of Karimganj. It was there while addressing the august gathering that MLA Dev proposed to rename Karimganj as Sribhumi as a mark of tribute to the world-poet Tagore. A number of other programmes were queued up for the day. The celebration, infact, was one of the event where the past and the present intermingled to the tune of Rabindranath.